Ambidextrous leadership, ambidextrous employee, and the interaction between ambidextrous leadership and employee innovative performance

Abstract

Leader opening and closing behaviors are assumed to foster high levels of employee exploration and exploitation behaviors, hence motivating employee innovative performance. Applying the ambidexterity theory of leadership for innovation, results revealed that leader opening and closing behaviors positively predicted employee exploration and exploitation behaviors, respectively, above and beyond the control variables. Moreover, results showed that employee innovative performance was significantly predicted by leader opening behavior, leader closing behavior, and the interaction between leaders’ opening and closing behaviors, above and beyond control variables.