Effects of ambidextrous leadership on conflicts: mediating role of openness to diversity in public administration

Author : Arce-Lopez P., Cabeza-Pulles D., Ruiz Moreno A. and Ortega-Egea T

Abstract :This article aims, first, to study the connection between ambidextrous leadership and the management of conflicts, task conflicts and relationship conflicts. Second, analyse the indirect effect of openness to diversity in this relationship. In the public administration’s work environment, employees possess a set of knowledge and skills that are both specialised and diverse, contributing to a heterogeneous workplace. The interdependent nature of employees’ work makes conflicts common, especially in high pressure situations (Löhr et al., 2018). This research will fill this gap in the literature by identifying and clarifying the effect of ambidextrous leadership on relationship and task conflict, as well as on conflict management. The data were collected from 239 employees who work in public administration. Structural equations modelling with partial least squares (PLS) was used to analyse the data set with SmartPLS software, version 4. The results show a direct relationship between ambidextrous leadership and task conflict, relationship conflict, and conflict management. Openness to diversity also partially mediates the relationship of ambidextrous leadership to task conflict, relationship conflict, and conflict management. This study addresses the lack of research on ambidextrous leadership in public administration. The authors argue that the behavior of ambidextrous leaders can have implications for employees, in terms of task and relationship conflict, as well as for their management. Openness to diversity is one channel for this

Keywords :Ambidextrous leadership, conflict management, task and relationship conflict, diversity

Conference Name :International Conference on Management Leadership and Governance (ICMLG-25)

Conference Place Berlin, Germany

Conference Date 9th Jul 2025