The role of organizational ambidexterity in linking ambidextrous leadership and strategic agility to divisional performance: evidence from the Indonesian National Armed Forces (TNI)

This study examines the architecture of organizational ambidexterity (OA) as a mediating mechanism between the antecedents of ambidextrous leadership (AL) and the systemic antecedents of strategic agility (SA) on military divisional performance. This quantitative study analyzes cross-sectional survey data from 446 TNI (Indonesian National Armed Forces) officers selected via purposive sampling. The hypothesized model was tested using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM). The analysis provides empirical support that AL, SA, and OA each have a positive and significant effect on divisional performance (DP), with OA being the strongest predictor. Crucially, OA was found to partially mediate the relationship between AL and DP, as well as between SA and DP. This finding suggests that leadership (the actor) and agility (the system) synergistically build an ambidextrous organizational architecture to achieve superior divisional performance. The originality of this study lies in extending ambidexterity theory into the military context. Furthermore, this study contributes by contextualizing strategic agility as the organizational implementation of the ambidexterity within military doctrine.