Ambidextrous leadership and innovation: the mood-as-input perspective

Purpose This study aims to extend ambidextrous leadership theory by integrating the mood-as-input model, emphasizing the critical role of nonverbal affective mechanisms and contextual conditions in shaping employee innovation. Design/methodology/approach A multi-source, multilevel design was adopted, incorporating both within- and between-person perspectives. Daily data were collected from 47 employees (N = 316 matched daily responses). Moderated mediation analyses were conducted to test how leader opening and closing behaviors influence follower moods, which in turn affect leader-rated innovative performance, under varying psychological climate conditions. Findings Leader opening behaviors significantly increased positive mood and reduced negative mood, while leader closing behaviors unexpectedly enhanced positive mood but did not significantly influence negative mood. Mediation analyses confirmed that positive mood mediated the relationship between leader opening behaviors and innovative performance. Furthermore, this indirect effect was amplified under a high climate for learning and weakened under a high climate for proving performance. Negative mood did not serve as a significant mediator, and the proposed indirect effects through negative mood were not supported. Research limitations/implications Negative mood did not serve as a significant mediator, and the proposed indirect effects through negative mood were not supported. Originality/value The study advances ambidextrous leadership theory by explaining how opening and closing behaviors enhance innovative performance through followers' mood and self-regulation. It integrates emotional contagion with the mood-as-input model and introduces psychological climate (learning vs. proving) as a motivational system that shapes mood interpretation and its effects.