Embracing Complexity: Ambidextrous Leadership Enriching Job Satisfaction in Nepalese Commercial Banking Sector

Scholars argue that ambidexterity serves as a crucial precursor not only to organizational innovation but also for teams and individual workers. This study indulges into ambidexterity and analyzes the synergic combination of transformational and transactional leadership style to create ambidextrous leadership and the positive impact of ambidextrous leadership on job satisfaction in Nepalese commercial banks. The research employed a survey design to collect data from 150 employees in Nepali commercial banks. Simple random sampling techniques were utilized, and a questionnaire was administered to gauge respondents' job satisfaction levels with various dimensions of transactional leadership styles, employing a five-point Likert scale. The findings reveal a significant relationship between ambidextrous leadership style dimensions and job satisfaction in Nepali commercial banks. The study concludes that ambidextrous leadership is the potential to be the most influential leadership style for fostering job satisfaction and recommends the balancing of counteracting leadership styles promoting ambidextrous leadership in Nepali commercial banks


INTRODUCTION
Leadership remains a vital element within the banking sector, exerting a pivotal influence on organizational performance and the promotion of innovation (Sidani, 2023).Specifically, components of transformational leadership, including intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation, have been identified as significant contributors to fostering innovation in the banking industry (Harunavamwe, 2022).Moreover, the adoption of self-leadership strategies and the creation of a positive psychological workplace environment are poised to enhance the levels of work engagement among employees in the banking sector (Iqbal et al., 2022).Notably, emotional intelligence factors exhibit a positive correlation with leadership effectiveness within the banking industry (Arumugam & Pillai, 2021).Furthermore, leadership styles emphasizing HRM policies, organizational environment, and employee engagement are instrumental in bolstering staff retention rates in the banking sector (Jivan, 2020).In summary, these findings underscore the critical role of leadership in propelling innovation, work engagement, minimizing employee turnover, and maximizing staff retention within the banking sector.
Leadership has become a subject of significant interest in higher education institutions.This reflects the recognition of the importance of leadership in today's rapidly changing and diverse work environments.The evolution of leadership is attributed to several factors, including changes in technology, globalization, work practices, and demographics (Yang & Islam, 2012;Yang, 2014).These factors have reshaped the landscape of leadership and the way organizations are led.A leader is a person who makes choices, organizes training, and has a team with diverse talents and abilities.The leader's primary focus is on achieving the organization's goals and objectives, creating enthusiastic followers who are emotionally and physically committed to attaining those goals (Domfeh et al., 2016).
Employee job satisfaction is described as the level of enjoyment or dissatisfaction that an employee experiences in their work.It is an essential factor because it can create a sense of connection to the workplace and foster a productive work environment (Holland 1989).Employee job satisfaction has garnered increased attention in higher education institutions over the last decade due to its impact on organizational performance, staff well-being, and workplace culture.Research has established that leadership styles influence employee job satisfaction, making it a subject of substantial academic inquiry (Bekele, 2021).Job satisfaction plays a crucial role in organizational success and has been a focal point for researchers in management and organizational behavior (Spector, 1997).Notably, studies like the Hawthorne experiments in 1932 and 1940 emphasized the importance of worker performance and attitude in understanding job satisfaction.
The study by Chang and Lee (2007) found that workforce job satisfaction is significantly influenced by leadership style and organizational culture, particularly in the context of transformational leadership.Effective communication by managers has been shown to have a statistically significant relationship with job satisfaction in organizations (Madlock, 2008).Multiple research studies have established a positive relationship between leadership and employee job satisfaction, underscoring the significance of leadership styles in educational institutions (Njiinu, 2017).Similar findings confirm a substantial correlation between job satisfaction and leadership styles, highlighting the pivotal role of leadership in influencing job happiness in educational settings (Kalsoom et al., 2018).Therefore, selecting the appropriate leadership style is crucial for promoting employee job satisfaction and achieving organizational goals (Lin & Chen, 2018;Shrestha, 2019).
However, with the evolving world economy and culture, enterprises are encountering a dilemma (Hou & Peng, 2019).On one hand, they seek high performance, while on the other, employees are increasingly in need of humanistic care.Leaders are confronted with diverse and sometimes conflicting demands, such as balancing an employee-centered approach with a taskcentered one or being both firm and gentle.The traditional singular leadership style is insufficient to address the diverse requirements of modern organizations.As a response to this inadequacy, the concept of ambidextrous leadership has arisen.Ambidextrous leadership is a dynamic strategy that reconciles tensions through both contradictory and integrative thinking.It melds two complementary leadership styles with a "both/and" mindset, resulting in the formation of a more versatile and adaptable leadership style (Chen & Farh, 2010).
Ambidextrous leadership constitutes a strategic approach that integrates two ostensibly conflicting leadership styles into a coherent strategy for handling tensions (Zacher and Rosing, 2015;Luo et al., 2018).Within the context of China, Xing and Liu (2015) have underscored the significance of ambidexterity in leaders, emphasizing its role in cultivating positive leader-member relationships and enabling effective navigation of complex management challenges.Various models of ambidextrous leadership, such as "transaction-transformation leadership, opening-closing leadership, and loose-tight leadership", are commonly cited in the literature as illustrative examples of this leadership approach (Masa'deh et al., 2016;Zacher et al., 2016).
In this study, Ambidextrous leadership has been defined in order to achieve a balance between transactional and transformational leadership styles n (Rosing et al. 2011).Transactional leadership style pertains to leaders guiding their followers toward specific goals, elucidating job roles and requirements, and evaluating performance based on the organization's system of rewards and consequences.On the other hand, the transformational leadership style involves inspiring followers to transcend self-interest and encouraging them to contribute to organizational development and innovation for future success (Bass, 1990).
From the past studies, it may be accurately inferred that there has been no prior empirical research conducted in Nepal to investigate the fundamental proposition of ambidexterity theory in leadership concerning innovation.Furthermore, although individual ambidexterity is a recognized concept, research aimed at examining ambidexterity at the individual level of analysis remains relatively limited (Kauppila and Tempelaar, 2016).As a response to this gap in the existing literature, the current study endeavors to explore the connection between two aspects of ambidextrous leadership, transactional and transformational leadership behaviors, and two aspects of employees' ambidextrous behavior, namely exploration and exploitation behaviors.Additionally, the study aims to investigate the interplay between aforementioned leadership behaviors and their impact on employee innovative performance.
In this theoretical framework, the study expands the concept of ambidexterity to leadership within both team and individual contexts.The study defines ambidextrous leadership as the capacity to encourage both exploratory and exploitative behaviors in followers, achieved through the manipulation of variances in their behaviors and the adept transition between these behaviors.Ambidextrous leaders, in this view, are skilled in guiding their followers towards ambidexterity.This type of leadership acknowledges the need for specific leadership behaviors while recognizing the inherent complexity of innovation processes, as previously outlined.The study intends to present its theory of ambidextrous leadership in the subsequent section of the article.In the literature review, the study will include insights regarding the relationships between leadership and jab satisfaction at the organizational level to offer a more comprehensive perspective on this association.

LITERATURE REVIEW
Effective leadership is a cornerstone of organizational success.Leadership styles may vary between industries and organizations, adapting to specific circumstances and situations.It's important to recognize the significance of job satisfaction within an organization (Chalise & Paudel, 2023).According to Behavioral theory, specific leaders are oriented toward development, such as leaders who value experimentation, seek new ideas, and cause and implement change (Purnama et al., 2020).Moving forward with the idea of experimentation in accordance to the prior section, The leadership ambidexterity theory explores the interplay between two complementary leadership behaviors, such as the dynamic interaction between opening and closing behaviors, directive and empowering leadership, or the integration of transformational and transactional leadership styles.The premise is that a blend of diverse leadership styles or behaviors proves more effective in adapting to changing environments and meeting the multifaceted demands of organizations.Recent research has scrutinized stable leader traits and general leadership behaviors, placing emphasis on stable and inflexible leadership.For instance, Rosing et al. (2011) contended that temporally flexible leadership is crucial for navigating dynamic organizational changes.Recognizing that a singular leadership style may be inadequate for continually evolving organizational contexts, Mitchell and James (2001) highlighted that the relationship between a single leadership style and organizational outcomes might not fully capture organizational temporal dynamics.Baskarada et al. (2017) asserted that effective leadership necessitates finding a balance between transformational and transactional leadership, proposing that integrating different leadership behaviors or complementary leadership styles aligns with the dynamic needs of organizations that a singular style may not adequately address.Moreover, various leadership styles exhibit distinct impacts on organizational ambidexterity (Nicholson et al., 2016).Hence, the fundamental tenet of ambidextrous leadership posits that intricate organizational activities are most effectively navigated through a leadership approach of equal complexity, which involves the integration of complementary leadership behaviors, such as opening and closing behaviors or the synthesis of transformational and transactional leadership styles (Zacher et al. 2015).Earlier Bass et al. (2023) also argued that transformational and transactional leadership should not be seen as opposing structures but rather as complementary ones, suggesting that effective leaders should possess both styles.

Paradox Theory and Ambidextrous Leadership Congruence
A paradox arises when apparently contradictory elements coexist within a single context (Smith and Lewis, 2011).The notion of paradox has deep historical foundations in both Eastern and Western philosophy and psychology, as evidenced by discussions among philosophers like Aristotle, Confucius, Sigmund Freud, and Lao Zi (Schad et al., 2016).Paradoxical theories are utilized to clarify tensions inherent in the functioning and employee interactions within modern organizations.These theories propose that perceived opposing concepts are able to exist in a state of harmony and interdependence, contributing to a continuously evolving and transforming whole (Cameron and Quinn, 1988).In the similar manner, this study attempts to integrate the elements of transformational leadership and transactional leadership suggesting ambidexterity in organization to increase job satisfaction and employee motivation.
Transformational leaders are characterized by their willingness to empower their followers and emphasize intellectual liberation (Bass, 1997).They focus on fostering innovative thinking, actively encouraging employees to break free from established constraints, and guiding them to set higher life goals.This approach not only breaks away from the limitations of traditional organizational hierarchies and top-down orders but also nurtures an open and innovative organizational environment (Eisenbieß & Boerner, 2011).Conclusively, transformational leadership may be considered particularly effective in promoting employee job satisfaction and motivation.
Conversely, transactional leaders prioritize the use of rewards and punishments to motivate employees to achieve work goals and enhance their incentives.This approach essentially relies on fair and immediate exchanges to influence employee behavior (Bass, 1997).Rewards and punishments serve as signals to employees, encouraging them to present ideas that benefit the organization and identify issues that impact organizational efficiency (Ding et al., 2009).This balanced approach under transactional leadership prevents employees from "over-advising".
Therefore, transformational leadership creates a conducive environment for employee voice behavior by establishing a positive voice climate and strengthening employee motivation to speak up.Simultaneously, it effectively counteracts the potential suppression of employees' independence, innovative thinking, and initiatives that could result from an overly conservative approach typical of transactional leadership.Transactional leadership provides external incentives for employee voice behavior and manages the issues of team turbulence and disorder that may arise from excessive activism under transformational leadership (Han et al., 2016).
Ambidextrous leadership, seamlessly blending both transformational and transactional leadership, skillfully navigates the tension arising from the organization's requirements for fostering voice behavior, maintaining rules and regulations, and optimizing efficiency.By leveraging the strengths of both leadership styles and mitigating their potential drawbacks through synergy, ambidextrous leadership achieves a synergistic management effect (Ouyang et al., 2022).In essence, ambidextrous leadership prevents the stagnation of group thinking, while simultaneously regulating deviation and dispersion in group focus.It encourages employees to engage in constructive voice behavior while ensuring the "appropriateness" and "quality" of their suggestions, thus effectively averting negative outcomes like organizational conflicts and chaos.In summary, ambidextrous leadership serves as a balanced and reasonable driver of employee voice behavior.
H1: Ambidextrous leadership has synergistic effect of transformational and transactional leadership.
Ambidextrous Leadership and Employee Job Satisfaction Job satisfaction is the measure of how employees perceive and express their level of contentment with their job and the extent to which it meets their expectations (Chalise, 2021).It is a desirable outcome for engaged employees within an organization.Given its paramount significance, job satisfaction is a well-explored research area that encompasses multiple facets, including its influence on overall life satisfaction.Job satisfaction relates to the feeling of fulfillment and pleasure that arises during the execution of work responsibilities.It presents a notable challenge for supervisors in ensuring that their subordinates find contentment in their roles.When employees derive satisfaction from their work, they tend to exhibit increased productivity and efficiency, thereby making a positive contribution to the overall organizational effectiveness (Asghar & Oino, 2018).
According to the distinction in motivating factors, job satisfaction can be contributed to intrinsic and extrinsic motivation factors.Several studies, guided by "self-determination theory" and the "job demands-resource model", have elaborated on and empirically verified the favorable impact of transformational leadership on employee intrinsic motivation (Duan & Huang, 2014;Gagne, 2019;Endriulaitiene, 2020).Past studies' results underscore the significance of transactional leadership styles in producing a favorable impact at the collective level due to external motivation factors.More specifically, the contingent reward and managing by exception (active) leadership approaches have the most significant influence in cultivating job satisfaction among employees in commercial banks (Chalise & Paudel, 2023).
Another study suggests that transactional leadership may be associated with heightened controlled individual motivation, and in the context of organizational crises, collective perceptions of transactional leadership can positively correlate with collective autonomous motivation (Gagne, 2019).
Previous research findings posit that transformational leadership plays a role in satisfying employees' psychological needs for competence, autonomy, and relatedness, consequently enhancing intrinsic motivation.On the other hand, transactional leadership serves to activate extrinsic motivation (Duan & Huang, 2014;Gagne, 2019).The information conveyed by transactional leadership, such as clear role assignments, attention to error correction, and strict reward and punishment systems, compels employees to place greater emphasis on aspects like compensation, recognition from others, and other work-related outcomes (Bass et al. 2003;Kark & Van Dijk, 2007).In essence, this fosters a higher level of extrinsic motivation.
Amabile et al. have also proposed that transactional and transformational leadership can mutually reinforce each other in certain situations furthering the synergistic effect of ambidextrous leadership.Hence, transactional and transformational motivation should not be viewed as inherently opposing structures; individuals can demonstrate work-related behavior driven by a combination of both motivational types.Consequently, this study argues that ambidextrous leadership effectively addresses the tension between employee intrinsic and extrinsic motivation, generating a synergistic and complementary impact by concurrently stimulating both forms of motivation.Under ambidextrous leadership, employees are motivated not only by the inherent appeal of their work but also consider external factors like compensation, rewards, and recognition, which are closely linked to the outcomes of their work (Ouyang et al., 2016).This results in higher employee job satisfaction.In light of these insights, this study puts forth the following hypothesis: H2: Ambidextrous leadership has a significant positive impact on employee job satisfaction.

Sample
The study sought to assess the impact of transactional leadership elements on job satisfaction.Data were collected from commercial banks, specifically Prabhu Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, and Century Bank, all located in Kathmandu.The respondents in the sample banks were engaged in diverse functional areas, including customer service, administration, and research and development (R&D).The final sample comprised 150 employees from the different functional areas.Among the employee participants, 52.0% were female, 48.0% were male, and with an average tenure of 18.62 years with 15.3% employees had experience of less than 5 years, 17.3% having 5-10 years of experience, 26% having 11-25% experience and around 41.3% employees having experience of more than 25 years.

Procedure
The data collection process was initiated in collaboration with commercial banks namely Prabhu Bank, Rastriya Banijya Bank, and Century Bank situated in Kathmandu where the study was conducted.Initial contact was made with these companies, during which we explained the study objectives and presented the proposed survey questions to HR managers and senior executives.With the explicit consent of the participating organizations, the survey questionnaires were used to gather responses from employees.To mitigate common source variance, data were collected from employees in all the different service levels and departments.Responses to questions related to items under transactional leadership, and transformational leadership were gathered.This dual construct approach aimed to capture a synergic effect of ambidextrous leadership on the organizational dynamics under investigation.

Measures
To measure the concept of ambidextrous leadership constructs from transactional leadership and transformational leadership were used.Transformational leadership consists of 4 sub-constructs namely Idealized influence, intellectual stimulation, Individualized consideration and Inspirational motivation consisting of total 16 items (Bass & Riggio, 2005;Nazim & Mahmood, 2016).Transactional leadership consists of 3 items contingent reward system, management by exception (active) and management by exception (passive) consisting of overall 12 items (Bass & Riggio, 2005;Hasija et al., 2019;Sakiru et al., 2013).The combined analysis of both constructs was used to measure ambidextrous leadership impact on job satisfaction.On the other hand, in order to measure the dependent variable Job satisfaction 10 items proposed under Minnesota satisfaction Questionnaire were used encompassing, internal, external and general satisfaction.With respect to reliability of the scales, the Cronbach alpha values for transformational leadership and transactional leadership is found out to be .896and 0.821 while ambidextrous leadership is measured at 0.925.On the other hand, Cronbach's alpha value for Job satisfaction is approximated at 0.920.Explain your methodologies in this chapter.You should explain your research instruments, data collection processes, data analysis processes or hypothesis testing processes, and data display processes.

RESULT
The table below presents an attempt to comprehend the perceived prevalence of ambidextrous leadership elements within the organization and its correlation with mean job satisfaction.According to respondents, it can be concurred that in commercial banks, ambidextrous leadership actually show a synergic combination of transactional and transformational leadership values and actively influences job satisfaction.These relational dynamics will be further scrutinized through correlational and regression analyses.
The mean values assigned to construct Transformational leadership (3.47), Transactional leadership (3.41) and Ambidextrous leadership (3.54) indicate a consensus among the majority of employees regarding the synergic effect of ambidextrous leadership elements in the workplace.The mean job satisfaction score of 3.35 suggests an above-average level of job satisfaction among employees.

Correlation Between Job Satisfaction and Leadership Styles
In Hypothesis 1 we suggested synergic effect of ambidextrous leadership style on job satisfaction.To test the hypothesis, we ran correlational analysis between job satisfaction and the three leadership styles.The results from correlational analysis shows higher correlation of ambidextrous leadership [r(150)=.871,p<.001] with job satisfaction compared to its counterparts namely transformational [r(150) = .732,p<.001] and transactional [r(150)=.832,p<.001] leadership styles.The output hereby successfully depicts the synergic effect of transactional and transformational leadership styles to create ambidextrous leadership conforming to the paradox theory.

Regression Analysis of Ambidextrous Leadership and Job Satisfaction
In the context of analyzing job satisfaction among commercial banks in Nepal, a multiple regression analysis was conducted to assess the significance of independent variables when considered alongside the chosen explanatory variables.The goal was to understand how these factors collectively contribute to explaining the observed variations in job satisfaction.The comprehensive assessment indicates that both the overall model and the individual variables within the model are statistically significant.The ambidextrous leadership model, as a whole, accounts for a substantial 85.2% (p<.001) of the variance in the dependent variable.It is important to note that the unexplained portion of the variance might be attributed to terminological ambiguity of ambidextrous leadership in terms of incorporating all explorer and exploiter variables.These unexplored elements could potentially contribute to the unaccounted variations in job satisfaction among employees in Nepalese commercial banks.

Impact of Transformational Leadership on Job satisfaction
The results, as outlined in Table 6, highlight the substantial impact of the transformational leadership's sub-constructs on job satisfaction.The transformational leadership model, as a whole, accounts for a substantial 68.3% (p<.001) of the variation in the dependent variable.The coefficients of inspirational motivation (0.434), intellectual stimulation (0.162), idealized influence (0.022), individualized consideration (0.066) signifies a highly significant association, indicating that transformational leadership plays a positive impact in influencing job satisfaction within the context of commercial banks in Nepal.

Impact of Transactional Leadership on Job Satisfaction
The results, as outlined in Table 7, highlight the substantial impact of the transactional leadership's sub-constructs on job satisfaction.The "goodness of fit" of transactional leadership model, accounts for a substantial 71.2% (p<.001) of the variation in the dependent variable.The coefficients of active management by exception (0.273), passive management by exception (0.298), contingent reward (0.229) signifies a highly significant association, indicating positive impact of transformational leadership in influencing job satisfaction within the context of commercial banks in Nepal.

Overall Impact of Ambidextrous Leadership on Job Satisfaction
The research utilized multiple regression analysis to examine the impact of transactional leadership styles on job satisfaction.Within the theoretical framework, job satisfaction was designated as the dependent variable, while the ambidextrous leadership factors, comprised of sub-constructs from both transactional and transformational leadership, were treated as explanatory variables.The analysis revealed that the transformational and transformational leadership style had a significant impact on determining job satisfaction.Multiple regression model of ambidextrous leadership (combined model) showed a higher goodness of fit as compared to individual leadership models.These findings align with existing literature (Schad et al., 2016;Mase'deh et al., 2016;Zacher et al., 2016), which identified which argued on the synergic effect of the different leadership styles.The results conform to the second considered hypothesis that ambidextrous leadership had significant positive impact on job satisfaction along the lines of all sub-constructs except individualized consideration and idealized influence.The insignificance of the sub-constructs may be ascribed to the sample and the sub-constructs may turn out to be significant for other samples in future studies.

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
The study sought to explore the synergistic relationship between ambidextrous leadership style and its notably positive influence on job satisfaction within commercial banks in Nepal.The results provide valuable insights into the dynamics of leadership styles and their impact on employee satisfaction, particularly within the context of the banking sector.Output from the analysis tools indicated a synergic impact of perceived ambidextrous leadership styles on the job satisfaction of employees in Nepalese banks in comparison to individual (transformational and transactional) leadership styles.The study underscores the positive effects of ambidextrous leadership style, particularly highlighting transactional leadership sub-constructs as major contributors to fostering job satisfaction among commercial bank employees.In conclusion, organizations are advised to prioritize the implementation of balanced ratio of transactional and transformational leadership extracting their exploring and exploiting attributes in order to accentuate the synergic effect promoting ambidextrous leadership style in more Nepalese commercial banks.There is a huge need for organizations to promote ambidextrous leadership not just in terms of transactional and transformational leadership styles but opening and closing behaviors, directive and empowering leadership as well in context of Nepal.
The study suggests that future research should delve into deeper studies regarding ambidextrous leadership style in Nepalese organization.During this study it was found that this field of study of leadership has been completely unexplored in Nepalese context.The research design utilized a cross-sectional approach with a focus on sub-construct level of study of leadership variables due to time constraints, prompting a recommendation for longitudinal studies to offer a more comprehensive understanding of the discussed dimensions.Additionally, the researcher proposes the incorporation of qualitative research methods to gain deeper insights into employees' experiences and perceptions regarding leadership and job satisfaction in Nepali commercial banks.Finally the study only looks over on the synergic effect but does not look into how to achieve it by balancing the counter-acting leadership styles which suggests future studies to involve a more solution based approach.

Table 1 .
The average age of respondents was 31.96 years with 27.3% comprising employees aged less than 25, 59.3% respondents aged 25-40 years and 13.3% employees aged above 40 years.Regarding education, 27.3% had completed intermediate level, 51.3% had earned bachelor's degrees, and approximately 21.40% had earned master's degrees or above.With respect to service level 22.7% respondents were junior level employees, 52.7% were officer level, 12.7% were Managerial level while 12% were executive level employees.Demographic Distribution of the Respondents Based on Gender, Age, Service-Level and Experience Level

Table 2 .
Reliability Analysis of Research Tool

Table 3 .
Mean and Standard Deviation of Variables Included in the Study

Table 4 .
Correlational Analysis of Job Satisfaction and Leadership Styles

Table 5 .
Result of Regression Analysis (Dependent Variable:

Table 6 .
Impact of Transformational Leadership on Job Satisfaction

Table 7 .
Impact of Transactional Leadership on Job Satisfaction