Title: Exploratory and exploitative leadership compared: evidence from China

Authors: John W. Medcof; Lynda J. Song

Addresses: DeGroote School of Business, McMaster University, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada ' Leeds University Business School, University of Leeds, Leeds, West Yorkshire, England, UK

Abstract: Organisational ambidexterity studies are advanced by comparing intra-departmental and extra-departmental leadership and introducing a triage model which explains a previously overlooked process for achieving ambidexterity. Organisations triage significant high uncertainty challenges to ad hoc projects outside the established departmental structure for exploratory management (extra-departmental), and triage lower uncertainty challenges to established departments for exploitative management (intra-departmental). The data support this proposition, and that most managers take on significant amounts of extra-departmental leadership as well as their intra-departmental. The data reveal that exploratory leadership involves more objectives development, communication and legitimisation, than does exploitative. Managers perceive that intra-departmental work is more important for career advancement than extra-departmental. This research extends the scope of ambidexterity research in China with a Chinese sample. It extends our understanding of ambidexterity in several ways and provides theory and results which promise to enrich future research, managerial practice and cross-cultural comparisons.

Keywords: ambidexterity; exploration; exploitation; intra-departmental leadership; extra-departmental leadership.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCM.2025.150333

International Journal of Comparative Management, 2025 Vol.4 No.3, pp.179 - 203

Received: 15 Oct 2024
Accepted: 14 Sep 2025
Published online: 09 Dec 2025 *

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