Does Gender Matter? The Relationship Comparison of Strategic Leadership on Organizational Ambidextrous Behavior between Male and Female CEOs

This paper aims to examine the relationship difference of strategic leadership to organizational ambidextrous behavior between male and female CEOs, taking into account the balancing effect and combined effect of explorative and exploitative behaviors. A quantitative analysis is conducted from demographic data and relevant organizational ambidextrous data of male and female CEOs of listed companies from 2016 to 2020. In total, 226 valid male-female CEOs pairs are used to test whether there is a significant difference on gender between strategic leadership and organizational ambidextrous behavior. The findings revealed that female strategic leaders with an ambidextrous advantage do not behave inferior to males. This study clarifies the intrinsic relationship between female strategic leadership and organizational ambidexterity, affirming the ambidextrous synergistic effect of female executives in corporate strategic decision-making. The presentation of women in top management may contribute to a better organizational performance through balancing and combining ambidextrous activities, and this study calls on upholding the cultural values of gender diversity and inclusiveness, and to focus on merits of female leaders.

Innovation Capabilities, Environmentally Sustainable Practices and Export Competitiveness: An Exploratory Study of Firms From India

India — the land of frugal innovation — is striving hard to catch up on its innovation capabilities. However, its inability to achieve balances on multiple fronts even 74 years after its independence indicates the presence of some underlying problems of competitiveness —both at the macro- as well as micro-levels. In this study, we build upon and extend the competitiveness Assets–Processes–Performance (APP) framework and try to diagnose such problems at the micro-level (i.e. firm level). We specifically try to understand the effect of environmentally sustainable practices (ESPs) on the relationship between innovation capabilities and export competitiveness (EC) of firms. Methodologically, we draw insights from both the theoretical (extant literature) as well as the observational (comprised of a purposive sample of select firms) realms. Our findings indicate that firms of Indian origin (FIOs) which are ahead of the rest in terms of their ESPs, fare better in terms of their EC. We propose a conceptual framework, wherein we posit that ESPs can moderate the relationship between innovation capabilities and EC. We also draw implications for theory and practice and discuss the avenues for future research.