Servant leaders promoting team contextual ambidexterity through team behavioral integration

Abstract

We investigate how servant leadership promotes team contextual ambidexterity via team behavioral integration from a conservation of resources theory perspective, and how such an indirect effect is conditional on two boundary conditions: the “climate strength” of servant leadership and of team behavioral integration. By climate strength we refer to the degree of agreement or consensus among team members regarding those two constructs. Findings from a field study and an experiment indicate that (a) servant leaders foster team contextual ambidexterity by cultivating a supportive context of team behavioral integration, and (b) this indirect effect is amplified when within-team agreement (i.e., the climate strength of servant leadership and team behavioral integration) is higher. We contribute to identifying the micro-foundations of organizational ambidexterity at the team level and exploring why, how and when servant leadership influences such team outcomes. Furthermore, drawing on both conceptual work and empirical evidence, we emphasize the underexplored role of “climate strength” in shaping team contextual ambidexterity through its underlying mechanisms.