Leader subjective ambivalence: Enabling team task performance via information‐seeking processes

Abstract

AbstractIn this article, we investigate the effects of leader subjective ambivalence on team performance. Integrating the ambivalence literature and social learning theory, we propose a multi‐level model of whether, when, and why team leaders’ subjective ambivalence enhances team performance outcomes. The results of two laboratory experiments (Studies 1 and 2) demonstrate initial support for the relationship between leader subjective ambivalence and information‐seeking behaviors. The results of a longitudinal field study (Study 3) based on 164 projects (164 leaders and 725 subordinates) show that leader subjective ambivalence has a positive indirect effect on team task performance first through leader information‐seeking behaviors and later through team information‐seeking behaviors. Our results further indicate that project complexity is a boundary condition for the proposed conditional indirect effect of leader subjective ambivalence on team performance outcomes. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.