Linking Paradoxical Leadership to Organizational Resilience: The Moderating Role of Organizational Learning Climate

Abstract

In an era of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguous business conditions, organizational resilience has become indispensable for sustainable firm survival, and organizations must explore the factors that could contribute to building organizational resilience. Previous studies have investigated the impact of different leadership styles on organizational resilience; however, the influence of paradoxical leadership remains scarce. Based on paradox theory, this study developed a moderated model that examines how paradoxical leadership influences organizational resilience and investigates the moderating effect of the organizational learning climate on the relationship between paradoxical leadership and organizational resilience. By adopting a purposive sampling technique using two-wave data from 319 knowledge workers of Pakistani IT firms, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) shows that paradoxical leadership significantly impacts organizational resilience, and the organizational learning climate also moderates this relationship. This study’s findings offer practical implications for organizations and leaders to enhance organizational resilience by adopting paradoxical leadership practices and fostering a learning-oriented climate. This study also contributes theoretically by demonstrating the impact of paradoxical leadership on organizational resilience, particularly when supported by a strong organizational learning climate, thereby extending paradox theory in the context of the IT sector in Pakistan.