Executive Coaching: A Conceptual Framework From an Integrative Review of Practice and Research

TLDR

Executive coaching has become increasingly popular despite limited empirical evidence about its impact and widespread disagreement over required professional qualifications. The article examines executive coaching practice, reviews underlying theories, and proposes a conceptual framework that integrates mentoring, career success, 360‑degree feedback, and training and development, with implications for future research and HR development. The authors conduct a literature review of executive coaching and related fields to construct a conceptual framework that links coaching to mentoring, career success, 360‑degree feedback, and training and development. The study’s key contribution is the integrated conceptual framework and propositions that synthesize existing literature on executive coaching.

Abstract

Executive coaching has become increasingly popular despite limited empirical evidence about its impact and wide disagreement about necessary or desired professional qualifications. This article examines the practice of executive coaching, investigating the useful underlying theories by reviewing previous research. It also provides a conceptual framework of executive coaching, integrating the literature on executive coaching and related areas such as mentoring, career success, 360-degree feedback, and training and development. The significance of this article lies in its integration of the extant literature on executive coaching and the development of a conceptual framework of executive coaching and related propositions derived from the literature. The article discusses the implications for future research and for human resource development.