Ever-present cognitive diversity: The mediating role of sentimentality and creative self-efficacy in achieving ambidextrous behavior

• The direct relationship between cognitively diverse employees and their ambidextrous behaviour is partially mediated by creative self-efficacy and sentimentality. • Cognitive diversity promotes creative thinking, becoming essential to strengthen creative self-efficacy. • Creative self-efficacy has a positive effect on the development of ambidextrous behaviour in public employees. • The presence of sentimentality can help employees to be more aware of and work on their biases, useful actions to make the most of cognitive diversity to achieve ambidexterity. Previous research has not determined whether perceived cognitive diversity translates into an advantage. This study explores empirically the relationship of cognitive diversity to ambidexterity. It analyzes not only the direct but also the indirect influence through employees’ behavior and traits (creative self-efficacy and sentimentality) that improve the capability of being ambidextrous. We ground this study in self-efficacy theory, and trait activation theory, which studies personality traits (sentimentality) in context (cognitive diversity) and latent inclination to behave in a specific manner (ambidextrous behavior). We used structural equations modeling (SEM) with data from a sample of 211 public employees. The results show both a positive direct effect of perceived cognitive diversity on ambidextrous behavior and a mediating effect of behavior and traits on the relationship. Self-efficacy and sentimentality are attitudes that must be managed jointly with diversity, so that they are not can make them a factor that threatens employees’ ambidexterity.