The leadership trilogy: A review of the third decade of The Leadership Quarterly

The present research reviews the most recent ten years, 2010–2019, of the work published in The Leadership Quarterly (LQ). We follow on prior decade-focused reviews published in LQ, including the period 1990–1999 (Lowe & Gardner, 2000) and 2000–2009 (Gardner, Lowe, Cogliser, Moss & Mahoney, 2010). The present work complements and expands the first two reviews by documenting how the field has evolved with new characters, methodologies, and theories emerging while others decline and become less relevant. We extend the story of how LQ emerged from a start-up niche journal, evolved into the predominant outlet for leadership research and new theories, gained awareness of a growing need to reduce construct proliferation, and adopted increasingly sophisticated methodological techniques that call into question some of the field's prior research findings.     

A 25-year perspective on levels of analysis in leadership research

The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive 25-year review of the incorporation of levels of analysis into conceptual and empirical leadership research published within Leadership Quarterly throughout its history. We assessed the population of Leadership Quarterly's research (790 research articles) on four key levels of analysis-based issues: (1) explicit statement of the focal level(s) of analysis; (2) appropriate measurement given level of constructs; (3) use of a multi-level data analysis technique; and, (4) alignment of theory and data. Prior reviews regarding levels of analysis incorporation into leadership research have been limited to major research domains. Results revealed that while both conceptual and empirical articles only explicitly state the focal level of analysis in approximately one-third of the articles, appropriate levels-based measurement and alignment between theory and data are relatively strong areas of achievement for the articles within Leadership Quarterly. Multi-level data analysis techniques are used in less than one-fifth of all articles. Although there is room for improvement, there is evidence that Leadership Quarterly is a premier outlet for levels-based leadership research. Given the increasing complexity of organizational science with regard to groups, teams and collectives, Leadership Quarterly has an opportunity to model for organizational research on how to build and test complicated multi-level theories and models.     

The structure and evolution of the strategic management field: A content analysis of 26 years of strategic management research

This paper analyses 26 years of strategic management research published in Academy of Management Journal, Academy of Management Review, Administrative Science Quarterly and Strategic Management Journal. Through a content analysis, it studies the relationships between the subfields of strategic management. A multiple correspondence analysis provides a map of keywords and authors, and a framework to track this literature over the 26‐year period. A discussion of future pathways in the strategic management literature is also provided.     

Advances in leader and leadership development: A review of 25 years of research and theory

The development of effective leaders and leadership behavior is a prominent concern in organizations of all types. We review the theoretical and empirical literature on leader and leadership development published over the past 25 years, primarily focusing on research published in The Leadership Quarterly. Compared to the relatively long history of leadership research and theory, the systematic study of leadership development (broadly defined to also include leader development) has a moderately short history. We examine intrapersonal and interpersonal issues related to the phenomena that develop during the pursuit of effective leadership, describe how development emerges with an emphasis on multi-source or 360-degree feedback processes, review longitudinal studies of leadership development, and investigate methodological and analytical issues in leader and leadership development research. Future research directions to motivate and guide the study of leader and leadership development are also discussed.     

Qualitative and historiometric methods in leadership research: A review of the first 25 years of The Leadership Quarterly

In the spirit of the 25th anniversary edition of The Leadership Quarterly, as the world's premier outlet for leadership research, we have reviewed qualitative and historiometric research across those 25 years. Qualitative research is a complex and cluttered area of scholarship. This is not because there is an inherent confusion about it. Rather, it is because ‘qualitative’ research is a cover-all term for a wide range of research strategies, paradigms, parent disciplines, sources of data, and methods of analysis for them. More so than in previous journal review articles, we explored variation in qualitative analysis as well as variety in qualitative data. In terms of methodologies, our efforts concentrated on case study, content analysis, grounded theory and historiometrics. We also examined trends toward post-positivism, post-modernity and liquid modernity, and their resultant benefits for researching leadership. Future directions for leadership research are posited.     

Trust in leadership: A multi-level review and integration

Leaders have been argued to play a key role in determining organizational effectiveness across all levels (e.g., individual, team, unit) that exist within organizations. A key component in a leader's ability to be effective within such environments is the degree to which subordinates and co-workers trust him/her. Therefore, it is not surprising that researchers and practitioners alike are interested in identifying the mechanisms through which trust in leadership can be developed as well as those factors which moderate this relationship [e.g., Gillespie, N. A., Mann, L. (2004). Transformational leadership and shared values: The building blocks of trust. Journal of Managerial Psychology, 19, 588–607; Kouzes and Posner, 1995; Roberts, K. H., O'Reilly, C. A. (1974). Failures in upward communication in organizations: Three possible culprits. Academy of Management Journal, 17, 205–215; Whitener, E. M. (1997). The impact of human resource activities on employee trust. Human Resource Management Review, 7, 389–404]. Despite this, research that has addressed the factors that foster trust in leaders and the outcomes of this trust has been disjointed and, as yet, no comprehensive model has been presented to systematically examine these factors. Therefore, the purpose of this article will be to present an integrative model of trust in leadership.     

Unlocking the mask: a look at the process by which authentic leaders impact follower attitudes and behaviors

The conceptual and empirical links between authentic leadership and follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance outcomes have not been fully developed. Although we have a number of articles developing the theory of authentic leadership and testing propositions that will appear in a forthcoming special issue of The Leadership Quarterly (Vol. 16, Issue 3, 2005), the focus of this article is to provide some of the initial foundation work for the broader theoretical framework of how authentic leaders influence follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Here, we draw from positive organizational behavior, trust, hope, emotion, identification, and identity theories to describe the processes by which authentic leaders exert their influence on followers' attitudes and behaviors. Research propositions based on the proposed theoretical model and implications for future theory building and research are presented.     

The effects of demand,competitive, and technological uncertainty on board monitoring and institutional ownership of IPO firms

This paper considers industry-specific contingencies that may account for some of the inter-firm heterogeneity in the deployment of specific corporate governance mechanisms in IPO firms. We examine how differences in demand, competitive, and technological uncertainty in the industry influence the levels of IPO firm monitoring by board outsiders and institutional investors. We test our theory using a sample of U.S. firms that completed an IPO in 24 manufacturing industries. The results indicate that industry uncertainty is, indeed, significantly related to the use of corporate governance mechanisms. In particular, the empirical results indicate that industry effects on IPO firm board monitoring and institutional investor ownership are the strongest and most consistent for demand uncertainty and competitive uncertainty.

Crisis,charisma, values,and voting behavior in the 2004 presidential election

This study extends Pillai and Williams [1998, Pillai, R., Williams, E.A., Lowe, K.B., & Jung, D.I. (2003). Personality, transformational leadership, trust, and the 2000 U.S. presidential vote. The Leadership Quarterly, 14, 161–192] and examines leadership in the context of the 2004 U.S. presidential election. Data were collected at two time periods from respondents in three locations across two major regions of the U.S. Our results indicate that respondents' perception of crisis was related to charismatic leadership in the negative direction for the incumbent George W. Bush and in the positive direction for the challenger John Kerry. For Bush and Kerry the relationship between crisis and voting behavior was mediated by charismatic leadership. For Bush, decisiveness was related to charismatic leadership, which in turn predicted voting behavior. For Kerry, decisiveness and charismatic leadership predicted voting behavior. Implications of the findings for leadership research, in particular with respect to an incumbent and the challenger to an incumbent leader, are discussed.     

Doing better leadership science via replications and registered reports

In 2018, the Leadership Quarterly commissioned a Special Issue (SI) on replications of previously published studies in leadership. We adopted the Registered Reports path for this special issue to facilitate constructive reviewer feedback prior to data collection and to minimize any bias against non-significant findings in the publishing process. In this editorial, we reflect on how this approach worked, what we learned about replications, and identify three myths that we have seen throughout this process regarding the value and conduct of replications. We then offer actionable solutions to further advance replications in science. We close with a discussion of the six studies included in this SI and the implications of these studies for leadership science. We hope that this work continues to inspire replications and registered reports and in support The Leadership Quarterly offers an open call for such submissions.     

Leadership and organizational learning: A multiple levels perspective

We review theoretical and empirical work relevant to the nexus of leadership with organizational learning. We build on the classic distinction between exploration and exploitation and the 4I framework of organizational learning [Crossan, M. M., Lane, H. W., & White, R. E. (1999). An organizational learning framework: From intuition to institution. Academy of Management Review, 24, 522–537.] to present previous research and offer research directions linking leadership constructs and processes of organizational learning at different levels of analysis. For each of these links, we discuss the mediating effect of organizational context and suggest future research directions. This review is integrated using a model and propositions that depict the role of leaders with regard to new and existing learning.     

Psychopathy and leadership effectiveness: Conceptualizing and testing three models of successful psychopathy

Research on the relationship between psychopathy and leadership effectiveness has adopted very different perspectives on psychopathy. To advance this field of research, the current paper introduces an overarching framework of “successful psychopathy” (Lilienfeld, Watts, & Smith, 2015) to the leadership domain, comprising three conceptual models (the differential-severity model, the moderated-expression model, and the differential-configuration model) and their “hybrid” forms, which are combinations of two or three models. We test the three alternative conceptual models and four hybrid models in two independent samples of leader-subordinate dyads (N₁ = 178 and N₂ = 668) whereby leaders’ self-reported psychopathy is related to a range of subordinate-rated effectiveness criteria, including three performance dimensions and charismatic leadership. A recurrent pattern of findings across both studies provides evidence for differential effects for the various psychopathy subdimensions, whereas little support was found for the models assuming curvilinear and/or moderated effects. Implications for research on leader psychopathy are discussed.     

What makes leadership,leadership? Using self-expansion theory to integrate traditional and contemporary approaches

Numerous traditional theories and paradigms of leadership purport to describe what leadership is. It is difficult to reconcile these traditional approaches, however, if each one alone, independent of the others, is viewed as capturing the actual identity of leadership. In this article, we take an integrative view of traditional approaches to leadership. To do so, we first identify some underlying ideas common to them. Next, we explain how these underlying ideas lead us to a fundamental theory about close relationships—that is, self-expansion theory, which refers to a psychological process in which an individual incorporates another into the self (Aron & Aron, 1986). We then review the traditional leadership theories to explore whether these theories may be linked through self-expansion theory and whether self-expansion may help to explain why boundary conditions have been discovered for all of them. In this process, we explore whether traditional approaches to leadership might also be linked with more contemporary approaches through self-expansion theory. Finally, we discuss the implications for future research and professional practice of the integration of traditional approaches to leadership.     

Transformational–transactional leadership and upward influence: The role of Relative Leader–Member Exchanges (RLMX) and Perceived Organizational Support (POS)

By utilizing the resource theory of social exchange (Foa & Foa, 1974), we attempted to cast light on the dynamics of the relationship between transformational–transactional leadership and employees' upward influence tactics. Using data collected in two time points (N = 200, 1 year apart), we found perceptions of transformational leadership (Time 1) to be positively related to the use of soft and rational upward influence tactics (Time 2) whereas transactional leadership (Time 1) was positively related to the use of soft and hard upward influence tactics (Time 2). We also found support for a 3-way interaction between transformational–transactional leadership, relative Leader Member Exchanges (RLMX) and Perceived Organizational Support (POS) on employees' upward influence tactics. Specifically, in resource-constrained conditions (low RLMX and low POS), employees were likely to use soft tactics to influence a manager they perceived as transformational to a greater extent than in resource-munificent conditions. They were also likely to employ higher levels of soft and hard tactics to influence a transactional manager in resource-constrained rather than in resource-munificent conditions.     

Conceptualizing leadership with respect to its historical–contextual antecedents to power

An attempt is made here to build on the ideas and arguments presented in a recent Leadership Quarterly journal article written by Hunt and Dodge [Leadership Q. Yearly Overview Leadership 11 (2000) 435]. In their article, these authors argue that contemporary leadership researchers tend to neglect the historical–contextual antecedents of the field and as a result are developing many theories that reflect little more than a form of “academic amnesia” and “leadership déjà vu”. The importance of Hunt and Dodge's argument is reinforced through the use here of a form of deconstruction to reveal a lacuna in the leadership literature—the insufficient coverage of power, particularly at what is termed a deep structure level. With the current context of organizational change in mind, this lacuna is shown to have problematic consequences for leadership theory in general. More specifically, the increasing use of dispersed leadership strategies is shown to be particularly problematic. The article proposes a new conceptual framework that begins to address these problems and in so doing provides ideas and challenges for future research in the field.     

The loci and mechanisms of leadership: Exploring a more comprehensive view of leadership theory

Through a qualitative review of the leadership literature, we derive two fundamental principles for codifying the last century of leadership theory and research: the locus and mechanism of leadership. Our systematic review and categorization of past theories suggests that further development of the follower, collective and context loci, and the affect mechanism is needed. Building on these insights, we propose that by simultaneously considering all five loci and four mechanisms in their theories, leadership scholars can advance a more comprehensive and integrative understanding of the leadership phenomenon. We then demonstrate the potential of using the locus and mechanism framework for examining and expanding current and future leadership theory including work on shared and strategic leadership.