Ambidexterity of HR practices in fortune 500 companies and employee innovation performance: mediating role of inclusive leadership

Purpose: Human resource management (HRM) practices must take an ambidextrous approach because of changing work environments and challenges. Ambidextrous practices in HRM fall in the domain of developing expertise for complex environments and reducing ambiguities in present turbulent times. Dual-oriented ambidextrous human resource practices (AHRP) can promote employee innovation performance. Drawing on social exchange theory to explore the impact of AHRP on employee innovation performance, this paper examines the mediating role of inclusive leadership style. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected through a questionnaire from employees of three Fortune 500 Chinese companies from the telecom, electronics and automotive sectors with temporal separation in two waves. The final sample constituted 276 useable responses. Findings: Results indicate that ambidextrous HR practices have a significant impact on innovation performance, and an inclusive leadership style mediates this relationship, together explaining a 27.8% variance. Originality/value: This paper examines the effect of dual-oriented AHRPs in the emerging markets context as a guide to best practices for managers to employ ambidexterity in HRM to enhance employees' innovation performance by enhancing both commitment as well as cooperation simultaneously.