Leading to Sustainable Organizational Unit Performance: Antecedents and Outcomes of Executives' Dual Innovation Leadership

Abstract According to ambidexterity theory, organizations must encourage innovation and ensure efficiency to achieve sustained organizational performance. Innovation scholars generally agree that leadership is a key determinant of innovation success, yet it remains unclear whether leader behaviors geared to drive innovation also contribute to efficiency. Building on research on leadership and innovation, we introduce executives' dual innovation leadership, consisting of two leader behaviors: fostering idea generation and fostering idea realization. The results from structural equation modeling, with data from 194 executives collected at two points in time, indicate the distinct impacts of fostering idea generation versus fostering idea realization on ambidextrous organizational unit outcomes. Moreover, the results reveal the relevance of executives' goal orientations as drivers of engagement in dual innovation leadership. The insights underscore the importance of refining existing leadership constructs in innovation contexts and provide implications for researchers and practitioners on how leadership can promote ambidextrous organizational outcomes.