Nursing excellence: A knowledge-based view of developing a healthcare workforce

Building on the knowledge-based view (KBV), this research investigates the role of human resource management practices (HRM) and ambidextrous leadership in developing nursing excellence. By analyzing qualitative case study evidence from an emerging market tertiary healthcare provider in India and using interviews and secondary and non-participant observation data, we highlight how HRM practices created contextual ambidexterity, and ambidextrous leaders played a crucial network brokering role in integrating knowledge for building nursing excellence. Specific HRM practices supported the development of new common and specialist, and internal and external, knowledge by instilling specific values. Furthermore, ambidextrous leaders managed the paradoxes of experimentation and exploration by embedding nursing leadership into clinical practices for enhanced value creation and capture. This paper contributes to developing a conceptual framework of nursing excellence through the theoretical lenses of KBV, HRM and leader ambidexterity. The implications for research and practice are also discussed.