Why and when do paradoxical management capabilities matter to paradoxical pressure? An empirical investigation of the role of coopetition

Abstract

While substantial evidence suggests that managers' cognitive and emotional capabilities play vital roles in resisting workplace pressure, their roles may vary depending on the organizational scenarios faced by the enterprise. At present, there is very limited literature explaining how organizational scenarios affect these relationships. By referring to psychological literature and coopetition theory, this study discusses the composition of managers' paradoxical management capabilities and how they alleviate the paradoxical pressure in open-innovation enterprises. Further, the study takes coopetition as an organizational scenario to explore how it affects the relationship between paradoxical management capabilities and paradoxical pressure. Based on the analysis of 231 representative multi-industry samples in China, the results show that paradoxical cognition in paradoxical management capabilities has a negative effect on cognitive dissonance, and emotional regulation weakens both emotional ambivalence and cognitive dissonance. It is worth noting that the moderating effect of coopetition is negative. The findings help understand the critical role of paradoxical management capabilities and the impact of coopetition, and further deepen the microfoundations on capabilities and coopetition theory.