Ambidextrous leadership, entrepreneurial orientation and job crafting

Purpose: The interaction between opening and closing behaviors of ambidextrous leadership produces “change” energy among employees. The purpose of this paper is to assess the role of ambidextrous leadership in fostering job crafting via entrepreneurial orientation. The paper also seeks an insight into how organizational social exchange moderates the effect of ambidextrous leadership on entrepreneurial orientation. Design/methodology/approach: Research data were garnered from 427 supervisor–subordinate dyads from software companies in the Vietnamese business context. Findings: Research findings corroborated the positive relationship between ambidextrous leadership and entrepreneurial orientation, which is positively associated with job crafting. Research results also provided evidence for the mediation role of entrepreneurial orientation for the positive link between ambidextrous leadership and job crafting, as well as for the moderation role of organizational social exchange for the effect of ambidextrous leadership on entrepreneurial orientation. Originality/value: Research findings have extended ambidexterity theory of leadership by identifying job crafting as an outcome of ambidextrous leadership and entrepreneurial orientation as a mediator for this relationship.