Followers'Active Action in Leadership Process: Concept, Relationship and Mechanism

Abstract

Abstract: This study explores followers' active action in leadership process from follower perspective through case study approach. After analyzing the data collected from seven organizations, this study explores the process, mechanism and results of followers' role in the leadership process from follower perspective, identifies the relationship between related concepts, and proposes a concept map of leadership process from follower perspective. This study finds that followers' active action in leadership process is relfected in four aspects, which are followers' implicit cognition, followers' identification of leaders, followers' reaction to leaders and followers' influence on leaders, and the mechanism of action between the four aspects is described next. This study provides an integrated framework for follower-centered leadership research, focusing on the initiative of followers in the leadership process, which helps us further open the black box of the leadership process.

Key words: follower perspective on leadership, leadership process, follower influence

Du Yishan, Xu Liguo, Xi Youmin. Followers'Active Action in Leadership Process: Concept, Relationship and Mechanism[J]. Management Review, 2021, 33(10): 208-221.

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