How Paradoxical Leadership Affects Ambidextrous Innovation: The Role of Knowledge Sharing

Abstract

In an increasingly dynamic and complex competitive environment, leaders are likely to face contradictory demands and ambidextrous innovation. From the perspectives of absorptive capacity and organizational inertia, we examined the relationship between paradoxical leadership and ambidextrous innovation, and the moderating role of knowledge sharing in this relationship. Participants were 306 senior or intermediate executives with innovative experience from high-technology companies in China. Results of our empirical analysis showed that paradoxical leadership was positively related to both exploratory and exploitative innovation. Knowledge sharing positively moderated both these relationships, such that, when knowledge sharing was high, stronger paradoxical leadership was correlated with more ambidextrous innovation. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.