What it means to be an ambidextrous innovation leader: For sustainable development in a rapidly changing world

Abstract

This research aimed to identify how senior leaders build a sustainable innovation culture through exploring leadership ambidexterity. Through the study paradoxical dimensions of innovation ambidexterity leadership were identified and designed into an ambidexterity measure, which was tested extensively and validated, providing a useful tool for innovation management. The research phases included qualitative interviews with 66 global innovation leaders to identify paradoxical innovation leadership capabilities, along with two year-long case studies with innovative organisations to observe innovation leadership dynamics in practice. Through these studies salient innovation leadership factors were identified, and a measure was developed. This survey was designed to assist with identifying ambidextrous innovation leadership strengths and challenges, and included 1071 survey responses to check validity of first measure and identify ambidexterity in the general population. A focus was on testing the measure with 118 innovation leaders to identify unique ambidextrous traits. The initial finding of the research program supported the idea that ‘ambidexterity’ is important for innovation. It was identified that being able to balance key innovation paradoxes successfully assists with leadership ambidexterity, and that identifying unique innovation orientations can provide valuable feedback for leading innovation.