Ambidextrous leadership and innovation ambidexterity in a business function: the role of managers' psychological capital and proactive personality

Abstract

Purpose: Recognizing the crucial role of leadership in innovation, this study aims to investigate the role of ambidextrous leadership (opening and closing leadership behaviors) in marketing departments’ innovation ambidexterity (exploratory and exploitative innovations), including the mediating and moderating roles of marketing managers’ psychological capital (PsyCap) and proactive personality, respectively. Design/methodology/approach: A two-wave survey of 198 marketing managers from firms in Vietnam was conducted. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used in hypotheses testing (net effects), and necessary condition analysis was used to decipher the necessity level of the determinants of innovation ambidexterity. Findings: Opening leadership behavior positively affects exploratory innovation while closing leadership behavior enhances exploitative innovation. The effect of opening leadership behavior on exploratory innovation is mediated and moderated by PsyCap and proactive personality, respectively; the opposite is found for the relationship between closing leadership behavior and exploitative innovation. Finally, PsyCap is a necessary condition for exploratory innovation, whereas PsyCap and closing leadership behavior are necessary conditions for exploitative innovation. Practical implications: Firms should pay attention to the role of ambidexterity in leadership to enable marketing managers to direct their marketing departments to acquire new knowledge, skills and processes, and reinforce existing ones to foster innovation ambidexterity. They should also consider the necessary role of the factors that help achieve the desired level of target outcomes. Originality/value: This study identifies two boundary conditions (PsyCap, a mediator; and proactive personality, a moderator) for the relationship between opening leadership behavior and exploratory innovation. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is among the first to decipher the necessity level of the determinants of innovation ambidexterity.