Purpose While paradoxical leadership has been recognized as an important antecedent of employee ambidextrous behavior, existing research has explained this relationship mainly through motivational and socio-cognitive mechanisms. This study shifts attention to a knowledge-based micro-process by examining how paradoxical leadership shapes employees' knowledge resource management and, in turn, employee ambidextrous behavior. Design/methodology/approach Drawing on the knowledge-based view and social cognitive theory, this study tests a serial mediation model in which knowledge resource orchestration capability and knowledge resource sharing willingness link paradoxical leadership to employee ambidextrous behavior. It also examines whether proactive personality weakens the effects of paradoxical leadership on knowledge resource orchestration capability and knowledge resource sharing willingness. Data were collected from 434 employees using a two-wave time-lagged design. Findings Paradoxical leadership was positively related to employee ambidextrous behavior. Knowledge resource orchestration capability and knowledge resource sharing willingness each mediated this relationship, and they also formed a significant sequential mediating path. In addition, proactive personality negatively moderated the relationship between paradoxical leadership and knowledge resource orchestration capability, as well as the relationship between paradoxical leadership and knowledge resource sharing willingness, such that both relationships were weaker at higher levels of proactive personality. Originality/value This study contributes to research on employee ambidextrous behavior by introducing a knowledge-based micro-process through which paradoxical leadership operates. Specifically, it highlights the sequential roles of knowledge resource orchestration capability and knowledge resource sharing willingness, and it identifies proactive personality as a boundary condition that weakens the effects of paradoxical leadership on both knowledge-related mechanisms.
Jin et al. (Mon,) studied this question.