The Impact of Distributed Leadership on Collaborative Team Decision Making

Abstract

There are many rationales for group, rather than individual, decision making. Theorized advantages include more information to contribute to the decision, more diverse perspectives to inform deliberation, and greater efficiency for implementation. This article reports on the first experimental study of distributed leadership. Here we examine the impact of a distributed leadership intervention—as well as associated individual and team characteristics—on collaborative team decision making. We find that the intervention caused more collaborative decision making and that individual's perceived influence over school decision making, use of data, and trust within the team are also associated with higher levels of collaborative decision making.