Shared Ambidextrous Leadership – Introducing a Collective Approach to Foster Innovative Performance
Journal
Academy of Management Proceedings
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2024-08
Author(s)
Abstract
This paper introduces shared ambidextrous leadership as a new approach for fostering innovative performance collectively. Despite the positive effects of vertical ambidextrous leadership on performance, recent studies have shown that the paradoxical requirements cause tension for leaders and employees. Drawing on the job demands-resources (JD-R) model, I argue that collective resources can help to resolve ambidexterity-induced tensions by sharing ambidextrous leadership tasks within the team. Combining shared and ambidextrous leadership research, I question the vertical conceptualization of ambidextrous leadership and introduce shared ambidextrous leadership to the field. In the first step, the mechanism identified by vertical ambidextrous leadership studies is examined before I explore antecedents and boundary conditions of shared ambidextrous leadership. Building on the JD-R model, social capital is introduced as an essential lever for strengthening the shared ambidextrous leadership–innovative performance link. The resulting moderated mediation model is tested in a sample of 646 work units from 73 companies, including 5,315 employees. The findings unveil the positive effect of shared ambidextrous leadership on unit innovative performance, moderated by social capital. Further, vertical transformational leadership acts as an antecedent for shared ambidextrous leadership. This study offers a new path to relieve leaders and employees from the increased demands in ambidextrous work contexts by sharing opening and closing leadership within a team. Leveraging collective resources in this way enables companies to increase their innovative performance.
Language
English
Refereed
yes
Publisher
Academy of Management
Volume
2024
Number
1