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Ambidextrous frontline service employees (FSEs), capable of delivering quality services and carrying out sales responsibilities too, are crucial to service firms. This study seeks to extend ambidexterity research by examining how a manager's goal orientation could influence FSEs' ambidextrous conversion. The authors draw on achievement goal theory and conceptualize a link between a manager's achievement goal orientation and employees' service–sales ambidexterity (SSA). The authors then apply conservation of resources theory to complement this high-level conceptualization, hypothesize mediating roles of important resources that can facilitate employees' SSA, and the authors test them empirically.

This study adopts a questionnaire survey design. The empirical test relies on multilevel path analyses of dyadic data from 341 FSEs and 39 managers of a major logistics service company in Taiwan.

Managers with a prominent learning goal orientation can facilitate and foster FSEs' SSA through developmental inducements and change-related self-efficacy, two important resources for their ambidextrous conversion. Managers with a strong performance-avoid goal orientation instead might hinder employees' SSA conversion, due to a negative impact on developmental inducements. Furthermore, SSA enhances FSEs' service delivery value and sales performance.

By analyzing and empirically testing the influence pathways of essential resources perceived by FSEs, which channel the effects of a manager's goal orientation to employees' SSA conversion, this study offers insights about how managers can support and foster FSEs' service–sales ambidextrous conversion.

The effect of multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs)-magnetite (Fe₃O₄) hybrid content on the magnetic and dynamic mechanical properties of thermoplastic polypropylene-natural rubber (TPNR) nanocomposites was evaluated. The effect of acid treatment of MWCNTs on the properties of nanocomposites has also been examined. TPNR/fillers nanocomposites were prepared via a Thermo Haake internal mixer using melt blending method with ball-milling technique as a pre-mixed process. The acid treatment successfully shortened the lengths and disentangled the crowds of MWCNTs. The improved dispersion of acid-treated MWCNTs-Fe₃O₄ in TPNR matrix and the enhanced interfacial adhesion between acid-treated MWCNTs-Fe₃O₄ and TPNR matrix increased the magnetic and dynamic mechanical properties. Acid-treated MWCNTs-Fe₃O₄ filled TPNR shows 10% improvement in storage modulus over neat TPNR due to the fine dispersion of MWCNTs in the TPNR matrix.