The benefits of ambidextrous leadership behavior for the workplace well-being of leaders

Ambidextrous leadership behavior, which refers to the use of complementary behaviors (i.e., opening leadership behavior and closing leadership behavior) to foster both explorative and exploitative behaviors in followers, has been found to generate beneficial outcomes to organizations and their members by helping them meet competing demands during organizational innovation. However, knowledge about how this leadership behavior impacts the leaders themselves is limited. Drawing on the theory of conservation of resources, we expect that the balance of opening leadership and closing leadership relates to the workplace well-being of leaders via leadership efficacy. To test our predictions, we collected multiwave and multisource data from 151 work units and conducted polynomial regression analysis along with response surface methodology. Consistent with our predictions, the results showed that the balance of opening and closing leadership was positively associated with leadership efficacy, which in turn increased leader workplace well-being. Moreover, this relationship was stronger when leaders engaged in high (versus low) levels of both opening and closing leadership. This study contributes to an improved understanding of the benefits of ambidextrous leadership by shifting the focus from a recipient perspective to an actor perspective, and it provides practical implications to help organizations improve their leaders' workplace well-being.