Cognitive Uncertainty and Employees’ Daily Innovative Work Behavior: The Moderating Role of Ambidextrous Leadership

Innovation is crucial for public organizations to adapt to changing circumstances. While successful innovation requires employees both to explore new ideas and to exploit current processes, such innovative work behavior is often bounded by constraints, both situational and personal. This study examines individual-level constraints on innovation by focusing on cognitive uncertainty as a personal state that may affect innovative work behavior. Using a quantitative daily diary study among public professionals in the Netherlands ( n = 88 respondents and 369 diary entries), the analysis identifies a positive relationship between daily cognitive uncertainty experiences and daily employee innovative work behavior. However, this relationship is only present when employees perceive substantial support from their team leader. This support takes the form of ambidextrous leadership, which mirrors the duality of the innovation process and is shown to be most effective in stimulating innovative work behavior and in managing cognitive uncertainty in stimulating innovation.