Self-Leadership: A Multilevel Review

Abstract

Over the past 30 years substantial research has focused on the concept of self-leadership. The authors adopt a multilevel perspective to review this research at both individual and team levels of analysis. At the individual level, studies consistently show that increased self-leadership corresponds with better affective responses and improved work performance. Findings are not as consistent at the team level. Relationships between team-level self-leadership and both affective and performance outcomes appear to be moderated by contextual factors. The authors also identify internal and external forces that influence self-leadership. Among these forces, external leadership is particularly important, as self-leadership is not a complete substitute for external leadership. Specifically, external leadership in the forms of empowering leadership and shared leadership facilitate self-leadership of individuals and teams. The authors also identify a number of cross-level research questions that illustrate how future research can benefit from exploring ways that self-leadership at the individual level interacts with self-leadership at the team level.