Research On The Effect Of Distributed Leadership On Organizational Ambidexterity Based On The Perspective Of Knowledge Flows

Innovation is the first driving force for development and the strategic support for building a modern economic system.Under the situation that the uncertainty of the external environment increases and the downward pressure of the domestic economy increases,promoting the innovation development of enterprises is an effective way to enhance regional economic strength and promote regional economic development.In the process of innovation,on the one hand,enterprises need to use exploitation to improve current technology,improve production and operation efficiency,and obtain current benefits.On the other hand,enterprises also need to actively explore transformative technology fields through exploratory innovation activities and achieve long-term competitive advantages.However,ambidexterity is difficult to achieve for most firms because exploration and exploitation divide attention and resources and require substantially different structures and capabilities to pursue.Given the importance and difficulty of pursuing ambidexterity,researchers focused increasingly on investigating how firms can overcome these hurdles to engaging in both exploratory and exploitative innovation.At present,based on upper echelons theory,the theoretical community has studied the driving factors of organizational ambidexterity,but they mainly discuss top-down traditional vertical leadership and organizational internal factors.In the era of knowledge economy,the realization of organizational ambidexterity brings a challenge to the organizational leadership model.The centralized leadership model has become limited in organizational management.Leadership is no longer limited to officially appointed leaders,nor can it be confined to individuals.It should evolve into a process in which capable organizational members can participate.Distributed leadership satisfies the needs of the knowledge economy era.It is a leadership model in which leaders,members,and organizational contexts interact.The relationship between distributed leadership and organizational ambidexterity has attracted the attention of scholars.However,the specific influence and internal mechanism are still unclear,and further study is needed.Based on organizational learning theory,more and more literatures emphasize that learning is achieved through interaction between organizational members.The best driving way is the knowledge interaction activities of members of the organization's multi-level social network.From the perspective of organizational learning,distributed leadership is the initiator of learning.The process of leadership,embedded in formal and informal leadership at multiple levels of the organization,affects organizational learning and knowledge dissemination,such as knowledge sharing,that are closely related to innovation.Open innovation is an outward-oriented paradigm that uses specific knowledge inflows and flows to accelerate internal innovation and expand external innovation markets,including inward-oriented knowledge flows and outward-oriented knowledge flows.From the perspective of knowledge flows,it can be seen as a kind of Learning mechanism.Based on the knowledge-based view,whether it is knowledge sharing within the organization or knowledge flow between organizations-open innovation,it brings knowledge resources to the enterprise,which is an important prerequisite for the realization of organizational ambidexterity.The mechanism of the influence of distributed leadership on organizational ambidexterity is from multiple aspects and multiple levels.Its internal knowledge mechanism is not only internal knowledge flow,but also knowledge flow and resource acquisition between organizations.From the perspective of dynamic capabilities,the influence of leadership on organizational ambidexterity is inseparable from the ability to integrate knowledge gained from the above two approaches.Therefore,exploring the mediating role of knowledge integration between distributed leadership and organizational ambidexterity helps to provide guidance and assistance for how to promote organizational ambidexterity through distributed leadership from the perspective of organizational internal and external knowledge capabilities.This study explores the realization mechanism of distributed leadership on organizational ambidexterity from the perspective of knowledge flow within the organization,the perspective of knowledge flows between organizations,and the integration of knowledge inside and outside the organizationBased on organizational learning theory,knowledge base theory and dynamic competence theory,combining the literature review of distributed leadership,knowledge sharing,open innovation,knowledge integration,connectivity and environmental dynamism,this paper has studied from the following three parts.(1)Based on organizational learning theory,this study explores how distributed leadership can promote organizational ambidexterity by encouraging organizational members to participate in knowledge sharing,and the strength of this facilitating effect in organizational connectedness and environmental dynamism.(2)Based on the theory of organizational learning and knowledge base,this study explores and explains the mechanism of "distributed leadership-open innovation-organizational duality",and explores the two-stage moderating roles of organizational connectedness and environmental dynamism.(3)Based on the dynamic capability theory,this study explores the mechanism that distributed leadership promotes the integration of knowledge inside and outside the organization,and then affects organizational ambidexterity.Based on the knowledge flows in the organization and the knowledge flows among organizations,the paper discusses the mechanism of distributed leadership on organizational ambidexterity by affecting knowledge integration,and the two-stage moderating roles of organizational connectedness and environmental dynamism.Based on the hypothesis deduction and empirical analysis based on the sample data of 274 high-tech enterprises,this paper mainly draws the following conclusions.(1)Distributed leadership has a positive effect on innovation ambidexterity,and the relationship was partially mediated by knowledge sharing.The stronger the environmental dynamism,the stronger the positive influence of distributed leadership on knowledge sharing,and the stronger the influence of knowledge sharing on organizational ambidexterity.The stronger the organizational connectedness,the stronger the effect of knowledge sharing on organizational ambidexterity.However,the moderating role of organizational connectedness between distributed leadership and knowledge sharing is not significant.(2)Distributed leadership has a positive effect on inbound open innovation and outbound open innovation.Inbound open innovation and outbound open innovation have positive effects on organizational ambidexterity,plays partial mediating roles between distributed leadership and organizational ambidexterity.The stronger the organizational connectedness,the stronger the positive influence of distributed leadership on inbound and outbound open innovation;the stronger the environmental dynamism,the stronger the positive influence of distributed leadership on inbound and outbound open innovation.The stronger the organizational connectedness,the stronger the positive impact of inbound open innovation on organizational ambidexterity;the stronger the environmental dynamism,the stronger the positive inbound open innovation on organizational ambidexterity.However,the moderating roles of organizational connectedness and environmental dynamism are not significant between outbound open innovation and organizational ambidexterity.(3)Distributed leadership has a positive effect on knowledge integration.Knowledge integration has a positive effect on organizational ambidexterity 'and plays a partial mediating role between distributed leadership and organizational ambidexterity.The stronger the environmental dynamism,the stronger the positive influence of distributed leadership on knowledge integration,and the stronger the influence of knowledge integration on organizational ambidexterity.The stronger the organizational connectedness,the stronger the impact of knowledge integration on organizational ambidexterity.However,the moderating role of organizational connectedness is not significant between distributed leadership and knowledge integration.The theoretical contributions of this study include the following aspects.(1)This study finds the positive effect of distributed leadership on organizational ambidexterity strategy,expands the antecedent research of organizational ambidexterity,provides an implementation path of new leadership model for organizational ambidexterity,and enriches the application of distributed leadership in organizational learning theory.(2)This study reveals the formation mechanism of distributed leadership affecting organizational ambidexterity by influencing knowledge sharing,open innovation and knowledge integration from the perspective of knowledge flows within organizations,knowledge flows among organizations and knowledge integration inside and outside organizations.The role of distributed leadership in different levels of knowledge flows clarifies the inherent mechanism of distributed leadership affecting organizational ambidexterity.(3)This study explores the two-stage moderating roles of organizational connectedness and environmental dynamism between distributed leadership and organizational knowledge flows,as well as knowledge flows and organizational ambidexterity,enriching the internal and external contingency factors of distributed leadership.The conclusions of this study provide the decision-making basis and reference for the organizational managers to carry out distributed leadership practice,encourage the members of the organization to share knowledge activities,actively introduce external knowledge and externally utilize internal knowledge,effectively enhance their integration ability and enhance the organizational connectedness to promote an open and shared atmosphere.