EXPRESS: Sustaining collective strategy through cross-level leadership: Microdynamics of managing paradoxical tensions in coopetition projects

Coopetition is a form of collective strategy in which firms collaborate to create value while competing to capture it, generating paradoxical tensions that may escalate over time. While prior research emphasizes firm-level mechanisms, it offers limited insight into how leaders across organizational levels manage these tensions. Drawing on five years of qualitative longitudinal data from innovation clusters, this study develops a model of how strategic and operational leaders manage paradoxical tensions in coopetitive projects. Under manageable tensions, top managers adopt a paradox mindset while aware of emotional ambivalence, whereas project managers adopt a paradox-separating mindset, prioritizing problem solving while blurring ambivalence. As tensions escalate, project managers elevate issues beyond their mandate, prompting top-manager engagement. Through their interplay, leaders recalibrate collaboration, enabling firm participation and sustaining collective strategy over time. These findings advance research on the microdynamics of cross-level leadership in coopetitive collective strategies while offering insights for managing coopetitive projects.