【公开学术报告】When and How Paradoxical Leadership Distinguishes from Ambidextrous Leadership?

When and How Paradoxical Leadership Distinguishes from Ambidextrous Leadership?

A Mixed-Methods Comparison Study

Guest Speaker:    Yating WANG (NUS)

Date & Time:      13:30-15:00 (Beijing Time), Wed. 9th, Nov. 2022

Zoom Meeting:   815 862 69047（Password: 581443）

Click the Link:    https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81586269047 

ABSTRACT

Paradoxical leadership and ambidextrous leadership have been documented as effective leadership approaches in handling managerial tensions and have largely proliferated in isolation in the past decade. Little has been known about how paradoxical leadership distinguishes from ambidextrous leadership. In this paper, I integrate contingency perspective into paradox theory to establish their distinctions in four studies. A meta-analytic study (Study 1) finds that paradoxical leadership outperforms ambidextrous leadership in facilitating positive work outcomes (e.g., creativity). However, the findings cannot be replicated in a critical incident technique study (Study 2). The mixed findings in Study 1 and Study 2 beget two possible explanations: (a) the advantage of paradoxical leadership over ambidextrous leadership could be theoretically bounded to specific conditions, and/or (b) the flaw in measuring the paradoxical leadership may amplify its advantage over ambidextrous leadership. To test the theoretical boundary explanation, two experiments (Study 3a, 3b) are conducted and reveal that paradoxical leaders handle structural tensions (versus contextual tensions) better (versus worse) than ambidextrous leaders, which is reflected in higher employee creativity and lower employee job strain. To test the methodological explanation, a face validity assessment study (Study 4) is carried out and shows that current doublebarrelled measure of paradoxical leadership virtually magnifies its advantage over ambidextrous leadership in fostering creativity and preventing job strain in employees. These findings expand current understanding of tension-confronting leadership and provide new insights into paradox theory.

Key words: paradoxical leadership, ambidextrous leadership, paradox theory, structural tension, contextual tension, double-barrelled