The duality of duality: Generative and disruptive climate configurations for innovation

Organizational climate is seen as a key driver of organizational performance, including sustained innovation. However, there is limited work on the effects of climate duality on innovation. The co-existence of two distinct climate dimensions (duality) in an organization creates the potential for both generative and disruptive dualities. By dividing the innovation process into an idea generation stage and an innovation implementation stage, we develop a theory linking climate duality and the generative–disruptive dichotomy at each stage of the innovation process. In particular, we argue that climate duality should be generative at the idea stage and disruptive at the implementation stage. Using data from the 2018 Australian Public Service Employee Census (N = 59,870), we test the distinct effects of climate duality at each stage. We conclude with a discussion of the implications of these findings for theories of work climate and innovation.