INDIVIDUAL AMBIDEXTERITY BEHAVIOR IN ORGANIZATION: THE EFFECTS OF MOTIVATION ON AIRLINE CABIN CREW

Abstract

Today many airline companies are encountering high competition. Providing excellent service quality can make airline companies more competitive. The lack of the cabin crew’s ambidextrous behavior is the main reason for the business failure of an airline. The objectives of this study were to find the relationship between two types of motivation (intrinsic motivation and extrinsic motivation), and the relationships between the cabin crew’s ambidextrous behavior and service performance, as well as the moderating roles of emotional exhaustion and work experience in the motivation-individual ambidextrous relationship. A total of 569 cabin crew members working in commercial airlines in Asia were investigated. With structural equation modeling (SEM) and hierarchical moderated regression analyses were used to examine the relationships. The results confirmed that the two types of motivation were positively related to individual ambidexterity and affected service performance. Moreover, the results showed interesting moderation effects of emotional exhaustion and work experience on the intrinsic motivation-individual ambidextrous relationship.