Two decades of self‐leadership theory and research

TLDR

This paper reviews two decades of self‑leadership theory, tracing its origins, evolution, and current research trends. The authors provide a theoretical and conceptual differentiation of self‑leadership from related motivational and personality constructs, and discuss the literature on motivation, personality, and self‑influence to outline the current state of knowledge and suggest future research directions. Self‑leadership is positioned as a normative model of self‑influence grounded in self‑regulation and social‑cognitive theory, filling a gap in organizational literature and offering future research directions to advance the field. The study notes that self‑leadership research remains under‑investigated empirically and conceptually.

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to provide a thorough review of self‐leadership literature past and present, including a historical overview of how the concept was created and expanded as well as a detailed look at more recent self‐leadership research trends and directions. The paper also presents a theoretical and conceptual explanation and differentiation of the self‐leadership concept relative to other related motivational, personality, and self‐influence constructs. Design/methodology/approach Self‐leadership research and related literatures of motivation, personality and self‐influence are discussed and described in order to present the current state of the self‐leadership body of knowledge and to suggest future directions to explore and study. Findings It is suggested that self‐leadership is a normative model of self‐influence that operates within the framework of more descriptive and deductive theories such as self‐regulation and social cognitive theory. Research limitations/implications While self‐leadership research composes an impressive body of knowledge, it is a domain of study that has been under‐investigated in some aspects, both empirically and conceptually. Practical implications This paper suggests several future directions that researchers can undertake to advance self‐leadership knowledge. Originality/value This paper fills a void in the organizational literature by reviewing the body of self‐leadership knowledge, by stating how self‐leadership is a distinctive theory in its own, and by presenting directions for future self‐leadership research.