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Ambidextrous leaders helping newcomers get on board: Achieving adjustment and proaction through distinct pathways

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  • Hu, Wenan
  • Luo, Jinlian
  • Chen, Zhijun
  • Zhong, Jing

Abstract

As they socialize into a new workplace, newcomers must pursue role adjustment and role innovation simultaneously. To facilitate their socialization, the newcomer literature must explain how organizational insiders, such as an immediate supervisor, can support newcomers in accomplishing both purposes. Drawing on the social information processing perspective, this study focuses on ambidextrous leadership, which consists of two seemingly opposite yet potentially complementary behaviors—opening and closing leadership—and investigates their interaction effect on newcomer task performance and innovative behavior. A field study based on 377 newcomers and their immediate supervisors showed that opening leadership and closing leadership exhibited a mutually strengthening interaction effect on newcomer innovation through individual creative self-efficacy. Meanwhile, the interaction effect between opening leadership and closing leadership on individual task performance was transmitted through newcomers’ role clarity. Finally, we discussed the implications of our study, accordingly.

Suggested Citation

  • Hu, Wenan & Luo, Jinlian & Chen, Zhijun & Zhong, Jing, 2020. "Ambidextrous leaders helping newcomers get on board: Achieving adjustment and proaction through distinct pathways," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 406-414.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:118:y:2020:i:c:p:406-414
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2020.06.064
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

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    2. Gang Zhang & Ziang Jia & Shimei Yan, 2022. "Does Gender Matter? The Relationship Comparison of Strategic Leadership on Organizational Ambidextrous Behavior between Male and Female CEOs," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-19, July.
    3. Gökhan Akıncı & Lutfihak Alpkan & Bora Yıldız & Gaye Karacay, 2022. "The Link between Ambidextrous Leadership and Innovative Work Behavior in a Military Organization: The Moderating Role of Climate for Innovation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(22), pages 1-19, November.
    4. Pashchenko Yana & Ye Chengang & Zhu Yue, 2022. "Organizational Ambidexterity and Crowdsourcing Through the Lens of Open Innovation: A Systematic Literature Review," International Journal of Science and Business, IJSAB International, vol. 8(1), pages 95-111.
    5. Ángeles López-Cabarcos, M. & Vázquez-Rodríguez, Paula & Quiñoá-Piñeiro, Lara M., 2022. "An approach to employees’ job performance through work environmental variables and leadership behaviours," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 140(C), pages 361-369.

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