The Effects of Knowledge Service Quality and Ethical Quality on Firm Performance in Corporate Consulting

Amid high uncertainty and severe information asymmetry in the business consulting environment, it is imperative to empirically evaluate the structural mechanism through which external knowledge capital translates into tangible business performance.This study adds the novel dimension of 'ethical quality' to knowledge service quality to mitigate client-perceived risk.It clarifies the structural relationships driving financial firm performance through the mediating mechanism of organizational ambidexterity.Using Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modelling (PLS-SEM), the study tested hypotheses using empirical data from 1,019 practitioners and decision-makers in client firms that have used external management consulting services.The empirical findings show that ethically grounded knowledge services reduce cognitive anxiety and build a psychological safety net for client firms, thereby significantly enhancing organizational ambidexterity-namely, 'internal exploitation' to optimize existing resource efficiency and 'external exploration' to discover disruptive opportunities.Furthermore, the resulting organisational ambidexterity coordinates the structural tension between these dual innovation activities, strongly driving ultimate financial performance.Academically, this study matters by clarifying the structural relationship through which external knowledge is absorbed, refined, and converted into tangible organizational outcomes.Practically, it highlights an ethics-driven differentiation strategy for service providers while emphasizing the need for recipient firms to proactively cultivate organizational ambidexterity and build knowledge-transfer infrastructure to maximize consulting effectiveness.