The buck stops here: Understanding the nexus between responsible leadership and employee ambidexterity in hospitality industry

The purpose of this study is to investigate the mediating effect of work meaningfulness on the relationship between responsible leadership and employee ambidexterity among restaurant employees. It also develops a moderated mediation model, assessing the boundary condition role of person-environment fit in the links between responsible leadership and its outcomes (i.e., work meaningfulness and employee ambidexterity). Time-lagged data were collected from 383 employees at restaurants in India. At Time 1, data collection focused on measuring perceptions around responsible leadership and person-environment fit, while the Time 2 questionnaire, distributed a month later, aimed to capture insights related to employee ambidexterity and work meaningfulness. Matched data were analyzed using PLS-SEM. The study found that responsible leadership impacts employee ambidexterity directly and through work meaningfulness. The results also reveal that person-environmental fit moderates the relationship between a) work meaningfulness and employee ambidexterity and b) responsible leadership and work meaningfulness. Further, the study found that the indirect effect of responsible leadership on employee ambidexterity via work meaningfulness was stronger when employees perceived a high-level person-environment fit. This study contributes to the responsible leadership literature by exploring how and when it affects employee-related aspects that have been unaddressed by previous examinations, making it novel. Based on our results, this study also provides key theoretical implications as well as actionable insights for the hospitality sector.