Toward strategic supremacy through absorptive capacity: The mediating role of organizational ambidexterity at Jordanian commercial banks

Abstract

Disruption in the business environment imposes undeniable realities that require effective strategic management; therefore, the need to develop a particular type of force capable of achieving proactive strategies, influencing competitors’ behavior, and balancing competitive forces has arisen. This study aimed to examine the impact of absorptive capacity on achieving strategic supremacy and the mediating role of organizational ambidexterity within Jordan’s commercial banking industry. It employs 513 questionnaires from middle and upper management through proportionate stratified random sampling. It adopts a quantitative approach through partial least squares structural equation modeling to construct a research model comprising factors affecting strategic supremacy and the mediating role of organizational ambidexterity and validate the research hypotheses. The study revealed that absorptive capacity significantly impacts organization ambidexterity (β = 0.764, t = 33.939, p = 0.000) with explanation power (R2 = 0.584). Organizational ambidexterity has a significant positive impact on strategic supremacy (β = 0.561, t = 12.469, p = 0.000). Absorptive capacity has a significant positive impact on strategic supremacy through organizational ambidexterity (β = 0.334, t = 6.963, p = 0.000) with high explanation power (R2 = 0.712), which means that 71.2% of the variance in strategic supremacy has been explained by absorptive capacity and organizational ambidexterity. Moreover, organizational ambidexterity partially mediates their relationship. It also found that the model’s predictive power was moderate. The study concludes that Jordanian commercial banks have placed high importance on identifying and acquiring valuable external knowledge and balancing their short-term and long-term opportunities to achieve strategic supremacy, leading to sustainable competitive advantage.