With one exception articles related to the theories identified in Avolio, and Walumbwa, and Weber’s 2009 survey, “Leadership: Current Theories, Research, and Future Directions” increased significantly. While publication related to global leadership peaked in 2012, as a whole these topics have expanded by an order of magnitude from 2% in 2006 to 20% today. When the hot topics of the neuroscience and gender were included the portion rose to 30%. Clearly there is an increase in the focus of scholarly attention on these topics.
A random sample of the articles being considered did not reveal any victims of this focus that may have resulted in the decline. However, the question of strategy wove its way through them all. Strategy recurred so frequently it was impossible to analyze it as a distinct category. This led me to consider it as an overarching theme. My expectation was that articles related to strategy and leadership would show the same increasing trend, and the decline in scholarly publication would remain a mystery.
I could not have been more wrong! In 2006 over 120,000 articles were published representing 35% of the total publications. The surprise was that articles related to strategy had dropped approximately 80,000 articles! There was 25% of the overall decrease in one place! However, a closer look revealed that while the total may have dropped, the question of strategy appears in over 60% of the scholarly leadership articles published. So while there is a significant decrease in numbers, it is clear that the question of strategy lies in the focus of the lion’s share of scholarly publication.
Considering the data holistically it seems reasonable to argue that the increase in attention on these theories is related to their role in enabling strategy. Upon reflection this seems appropriate. What is our purpose as leaders if it is not to define a vision of a better future, and engage others in a strategy that will achieve it?
What do you think?
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