Organisational context for employee ambidexterity and employee engagement: towards performance improvement in small and medium-sized manufacturing and service organisations

Organisational Ambidexterity and Employee Engagement have emerged to be crucial in achieving long-term organisational success. However, there is a lack of understanding of how individual ambidexterity of the shop-floor employees affects the overall ambidexterity and performance of an organisation. As a measure of individual employee performance, Employee Engagement increases employee discretionary effort; employee productivity; customer satisfaction and loyalty; and organisational profitability. Findings reveal that practical interest in Employee Engagement has outstripped the available research evidence, and fundamental questions, such as how to increase employee level of engagement, require further scrutiny. This study investigates the organisational context required for Employee Ambidexterity and Employee Engagement and the relationship between them. Structural equation modelling of quantitative data from 398 shop-floor employees in Small and Medium-sized Nigerian Manufacturing and Service Organisations reveal that Organic Structure, plus Flexible and Family-like Organisational Culture promote Employee Ambidexterity and Employee’s Level of Engagement and performance