Abstract We offer a microfoundational perspective to challenge the consensual view of ambidextrous search as a superior approach to addressing performance problems. We characterize the nature of search as both ostensive and agentic, and suggest that search performance is idiosyncratic across individuals and highly dependent on decision makers' cognitive frameworks and social contexts. To test our theory, we develop a mathematical simulation model that formalizes the mechanisms regulating the search behaviors of senior leaders in both family and non-family firms. Our results suggest that a search approach that is conducive to superior performance in non-family firms may yield inferior performance in family firms depending on the senior leader's family membership and her/his positional history in the firm (i.e., non-family, founder, later-generation). Moreover, we reveal that while ambidexterity constitutes a superior search approach for family firms with founder CEOs, those with non-family or later-generation CEOs would seem to benefit from specialization.

中文翻译：

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灵巧搜索的背后：家族企业和非家族企业搜索的微观基础

摘要 我们提供了一个微观基础的观点来挑战双手灵巧搜索作为解决性能问题的一种优越方法的共识观点。我们将搜索的性质描述为明示和动因，并建议搜索性能因个人而异，并且高度依赖于决策者的认知框架和社会背景。为了测试我们的理论，我们开发了一个数学模拟模型，该模型将规范家族企业和非家族企业高管搜索行为的机制正式化。我们的结果表明，根据高级领导者的家族成员身份和她/他在公司中的职位历史（即，非家族、创始人、后世）。此外，我们发现，虽然双元性是寻找创始人 CEO 的家族企业的最佳方法，但那些拥有非家族或后代 CEO 的公司似乎会从专业化中受益。