Team Dual Formation Strategy, Team Ambidexterity Trajectory, and Entrepreneurial Effectiveness

Limei CHEN; Chu‐Ding LING; Melody Jun ZHANG; Nan WANG; Weize HUANG

doi:10.1111/peps.70030

Team Dual Formation Strategy, Team Ambidexterity Trajectory, and Entrepreneurial Effectiveness

Limei CHEN
, Chu‐Ding LING^*
, Melody Jun ZHANG^*
, Nan WANG
, Weize HUANG

^*Corresponding author for this work

Department of Management

Research output: Journal Publications › Journal Article (refereed) › peer-review

Abstract

New ventures face ongoing demands for exploratory and exploitative activities (i.e., explore new opportunities while also optimizing their existing operations) throughout their establishment and operations. To succeed, entrepreneurial teams must therefore develop and sustain team ambidexterity—the ability to integrate these competing demands—over time. Given that entrepreneurial team formation has a profound and enduring influence on venture growth, this research examines how specific formation strategies shape the ongoing development of team ambidexterity and entrepreneurial effectiveness. Drawing on the dynamic equilibrium model, we propose that the dual formation strategy, which integrates interpersonal attraction and resource complementarity strategies, enables entrepreneurial teams to achieve higher entrepreneurial effectiveness by fostering a more favorable team ambidexterity trajectory slope (i.e., an ongoing increase in team ambidexterity) over time, compared to relying solely on singular strategies. We tested our hypotheses using a mixed-method approach; this included interviews with 53 entrepreneurs from 36 real-world entrepreneurial teams and a longitudinal study of 274 entrepreneurial teams participating in business simulation contests. Both the qualitative and quantitative data provide support for our model. These findings offer several theoretical and practical implications and suggest promising directions for future research.

Original language	English
Journal	Personnel Psychology
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.1111/peps.70030
Publication status	E-pub ahead of print - 25 May 2026

Bibliographical note

We thank Prof. Paul Bliese, Prof. Man-Nok Wong, and Prof. Wei Wufor their valuable advice on methods, Prof. Yaping Gong, Prof. Song Wang, and Prof. Weiliang Wang for their helpful comments on previous version of this manuscript, and Prof. Jinlong Zhu for his generous support of this research. We are also grateful to Action Editor Prof. Mo Wang and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments throughout the review process. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at seminars at Renmin University of China and The University of Hong Kong. We thank all participants at these institutions for their constructive feedback.

Funding

This research was supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (Project Nos: 72572164; 72302204; 72102226; 72232009). Nan Wang acknowledges financial support of Lingnan University, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, China. Weize Huang also acknowledges the support from the XJTLU Research Development Fund Project (No. RDF-22-02-050).

Keywords

dynamic equilibrium model
entrepreneurial effectiveness
team ambidexterity trajectory
team formation strategy

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10.1111/peps.70030

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/peps.70030

Cite this

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title = "Team Dual Formation Strategy, Team Ambidexterity Trajectory, and Entrepreneurial Effectiveness",

abstract = "New ventures face ongoing demands for exploratory and exploitative activities (i.e., explore new opportunities while also optimizing their existing operations) throughout their establishment and operations. To succeed, entrepreneurial teams must therefore develop and sustain team ambidexterity—the ability to integrate these competing demands—over time. Given that entrepreneurial team formation has a profound and enduring influence on venture growth, this research examines how specific formation strategies shape the ongoing development of team ambidexterity and entrepreneurial effectiveness. Drawing on the dynamic equilibrium model, we propose that the dual formation strategy, which integrates interpersonal attraction and resource complementarity strategies, enables entrepreneurial teams to achieve higher entrepreneurial effectiveness by fostering a more favorable team ambidexterity trajectory slope (i.e., an ongoing increase in team ambidexterity) over time, compared to relying solely on singular strategies. We tested our hypotheses using a mixed-method approach; this included interviews with 53 entrepreneurs from 36 real-world entrepreneurial teams and a longitudinal study of 274 entrepreneurial teams participating in business simulation contests. Both the qualitative and quantitative data provide support for our model. These findings offer several theoretical and practical implications and suggest promising directions for future research.",

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author = "Limei CHEN and Chu‐Ding LING and ZHANG, \{Melody Jun\} and Nan WANG and Weize HUANG",

note = "We thank Prof. Paul Bliese, Prof. Man-Nok Wong, and Prof. Wei Wufor their valuable advice on methods, Prof. Yaping Gong, Prof. Song Wang, and Prof. Weiliang Wang for their helpful comments on previous version of this manuscript, and Prof. Jinlong Zhu for his generous support of this research. We are also grateful to Action Editor Prof. Mo Wang and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments throughout the review process. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at seminars at Renmin University of China and The University of Hong Kong. We thank all participants at these institutions for their constructive feedback. ",

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AU - ZHANG, Melody Jun

AU - WANG, Nan

AU - HUANG, Weize

N1 - We thank Prof. Paul Bliese, Prof. Man-Nok Wong, and Prof. Wei Wufor their valuable advice on methods, Prof. Yaping Gong, Prof. Song Wang, and Prof. Weiliang Wang for their helpful comments on previous version of this manuscript, and Prof. Jinlong Zhu for his generous support of this research. We are also grateful to Action Editor Prof. Mo Wang and the two anonymous reviewers for their constructive and insightful comments throughout the review process. Earlier versions of this paper were presented at seminars at Renmin University of China and The University of Hong Kong. We thank all participants at these institutions for their constructive feedback.

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N2 - New ventures face ongoing demands for exploratory and exploitative activities (i.e., explore new opportunities while also optimizing their existing operations) throughout their establishment and operations. To succeed, entrepreneurial teams must therefore develop and sustain team ambidexterity—the ability to integrate these competing demands—over time. Given that entrepreneurial team formation has a profound and enduring influence on venture growth, this research examines how specific formation strategies shape the ongoing development of team ambidexterity and entrepreneurial effectiveness. Drawing on the dynamic equilibrium model, we propose that the dual formation strategy, which integrates interpersonal attraction and resource complementarity strategies, enables entrepreneurial teams to achieve higher entrepreneurial effectiveness by fostering a more favorable team ambidexterity trajectory slope (i.e., an ongoing increase in team ambidexterity) over time, compared to relying solely on singular strategies. We tested our hypotheses using a mixed-method approach; this included interviews with 53 entrepreneurs from 36 real-world entrepreneurial teams and a longitudinal study of 274 entrepreneurial teams participating in business simulation contests. Both the qualitative and quantitative data provide support for our model. These findings offer several theoretical and practical implications and suggest promising directions for future research.

AB - New ventures face ongoing demands for exploratory and exploitative activities (i.e., explore new opportunities while also optimizing their existing operations) throughout their establishment and operations. To succeed, entrepreneurial teams must therefore develop and sustain team ambidexterity—the ability to integrate these competing demands—over time. Given that entrepreneurial team formation has a profound and enduring influence on venture growth, this research examines how specific formation strategies shape the ongoing development of team ambidexterity and entrepreneurial effectiveness. Drawing on the dynamic equilibrium model, we propose that the dual formation strategy, which integrates interpersonal attraction and resource complementarity strategies, enables entrepreneurial teams to achieve higher entrepreneurial effectiveness by fostering a more favorable team ambidexterity trajectory slope (i.e., an ongoing increase in team ambidexterity) over time, compared to relying solely on singular strategies. We tested our hypotheses using a mixed-method approach; this included interviews with 53 entrepreneurs from 36 real-world entrepreneurial teams and a longitudinal study of 274 entrepreneurial teams participating in business simulation contests. Both the qualitative and quantitative data provide support for our model. These findings offer several theoretical and practical implications and suggest promising directions for future research.

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JO - Personnel Psychology

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Team Dual Formation Strategy, Team Ambidexterity Trajectory, and Entrepreneurial Effectiveness

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Keywords

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