How does managerial leadership influence organizational ambidexterity?

: a study of the public sector

Abstract

Organizational ambidexterity is a widely researched and known phenomenon amongst academics; however there are still research gaps. Most of the studies are in private sector; however, lately researchers have called for more studies in the public sector.

The purpose of this dissertation is to explain casual relationships between different leadership styles and their influence on organizational ambidexterity in public sector organization. The dissertation use a positivistic philosophy and a deductive approach; hence, a cross sectional design is used. The quantitative method chosen was a web based survey, distributed by e-mail to 171 managers operating in waste management and water and sewerage industries in the Swedish public sector.

The findings of the study are that are that it is not possible to differentiate a higher level of organizational ambidexterity in any public organizational form. Another finding is that organizational ambidexterity can be positively influenced by managerial leadership in the local government administration

The limitations of this dissertation are that only two industries are included and that the results cannot be generalized for other populations due to a small sample. The implications of this study are that organizational ambidexterity is a concept that is present in the public sector and can be influenced by managerial leadership under certain circumstances