This study examines the impact of ambidextrous leadership on sustainable export performance in technology-based small and medium enterprises. It also investigates the mediating role of entrepreneurial orientation between ambidextrous leadership and sustainable export performance, and the moderating influence of knowledge management capabilities on entrepreneurial orientation and sustainable export performance. The theoretical contributions of this study represent a substantial expansion of complexity leadership theory by empirically examining the mediation and moderation mechanisms among ambidextrous leadership, entrepreneurial orientation, and sustainable export performance in an emerging market. This research presents a multi-group comparison between low-tech and high-tech sectors, offering detailed insights into the distinct roles of the various sub-dimensions of entrepreneurial orientation and the contextual influence of knowledge management capability.
The study examines 359 executives who head the operations management of technology firms in SMEs. Partial least square structural equation modeling is employed to assess the impact of ambidextrous leadership on sustainable export performance in technology-based SMEs, with entrepreneurial orientation acting as a mediator and knowledge management capabilities acting as a moderator. This study adopts a multi-group method, utilizing two subsamples of SMEs categorized as low-tech or high-tech.
The results indicated no direct relation between ambidextrous leadership and sustainable export performance. Ambidextrous leadership and sustainable export performance are highly mediated by innovativeness, risk-taking and proactiveness in the whole sample and the high-tech group. Risk-taking and proactiveness are significant mediators, but they are not innovative in the low-tech sample. On moderating effects, the high-tech group found no moderation of knowledge management capabilities between risk-taking, innovation, proactiveness and sustainable export performance. Alternatively, the low-tech sample shows that knowledge management capabilities moderate between innovativeness, proactiveness and sustainable export performance.
This research will provide policymakers and SMEs with practical insights. To boost their sustainable export performance over time, SMEs can embrace ambidextrous leadership best practices, capitalize on their entrepreneurial orientation and optimize their knowledge management capabilities. Low-tech SMEs should leverage knowledge management capabilities to drive proactive and innovative behaviors for sustainable export growth, while high-tech SMEs need to strengthen internal innovation systems to maintain competitiveness. Based on the results, policymakers should prioritize the development of ambidextrous competence as leaders in Pakistan's technology-based SME sector by encouraging a culture of innovativeness, proactiveness, calculated risk-taking and assistance to establish a working environment that enables SMEs to expand their businesses internationally.
This study has substantially contributed to the literature on complexity leadership theory. It has achieved this by thoroughly investigating the many mechanisms of mediation and moderation, thereby providing deeper insights into the intricate relationship between these variables, ambidextrous leadership and entrepreneurial orientation, knowledge management capabilities and sustainable export performance in technology-based SMEs.
