Paradoxical Leadership in Higher Education: Perceptions of Faculty Members

The current study aimed to investigate the effect of paradoxical leadership on individual ambidexterity based on the perceptions of 417 faculty members from three public universities in Jordan. The construct validity of the paradoxical leadership scale (Zhang et al., 2015) and individual ambidexterity scale (Mom et al., 2007) was established.Findings of the study showed that paradoxical leadership and individual ambidexterity holds similar dimensions as suggested by previous research. Moreover, findings showed that paradoxical leadership is greatly practiced in higher education work environments. Moreover, individual ambidexterity is highly practiced in higher education. Further, positive relationship and effect was found between paradoxical leadership and individual ambidexterity. Finally, the CA sub-scale of paradoxical leadership was the best predictor of explorative behavior of faculty members explaining 12.7% of the variance. However, the DC sub-scale explained 17.9% of the variance in exploitative behaviors of faculty members. The study provided various recommendations for the field of study. Received: 19 October 2025 / Accepted: 15 December 2025 / Published: January 2026