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Cited by 188Job Satisfaction and Organizational BehaviorLeadership and Management in OrganizationsEmployee Performance and Leadership

Participative Leadership: A Literature Review and Prospects for Future Research

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Wang, Qiang, Hou, Hong, Li, Zhibin·2022·Frontiers in Psychology
DOI 10.3389/fpsyg.2022.924357PMC PMC9204162
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Abstract

Changes in the external market environment put forward objective requirements for the formulation of organizational strategic plans, making it difficult for the organization’s leaders to make the right and effective decisions quickly on their own. As a result, participative leadership, which encourages and supports employees to participate in the decision-making process of organizations, has received increasing attention in both theory and practice. We searched the literature related to participative leadership in databases such as Web of Science, EBSCO, ProQuest, and China National Knowledge Infrastructure (CNKI). Based on this, we clarify the concept of participative leadership, propose a definition of participative leadership, summarize measurement scales for this type of leadership, and compare participative leadership with other leadership styles (empowering leadership and directive leadership). We also present a research framework for participative leadership that demonstrates its antecedents; the mechanisms for its development based on social exchange theory, conservation of resources theory, social cognitive theory; social information processing theory, and implicit leadership theory; and outcomes. Finally, we identify five potential research areas: Connotation, antecedents, outcomes, mediators and moderators, and study of participative leadership in China.

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  • The integrative literature review method allows for a comprehensive assessment of existing evidence, thereby enhancing the rigor of the evaluation of diverse primary studies employing various methodologies.

    “The integrative review method, as described by Wang, et al. [35] allows for a comprehensive assessment of the existing evidence, thereby enhancing the rigor of the evaluation of diverse primary studies employing various methodologies.”

    From Ensuring leadership continuity: An integrative review of succession planning, leadership development and organisational memory (2025) · cites this paper as [35]

    The Method sections describe a literature search that included both quantitative and qualitative research, and the Conclusion calls it a systematic review. The paper does not describe an integrative review method or say that it enhances the rigor of evaluating diverse primary studies. No page numbers are available in our copy. (LLM, conf=0.82)

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Cited by

Sorted by citations

Authors
Wang, Q., Hou, H., & Li, Z.
Affiliations
  • University of Science and Technology Beijing (CN)
  • Gachon University (KR)
  • Xi'an Polytechnic University (CN)
Corresponding author
Hou, Hong
ORCID
Venue
Frontiers in Psychology
Publisher
Frontiers Media SA
Published
2022-06-03
Volume
13
Pages
924357-924357
ISSN
1664-1078 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.3389/fpsyg.2022.924357
PMC
PMC9204162
OpenAlex
W4281635678
Cited by
188
References
1
Citations by year
2026: 45 · 2025: 54 · 2024: 37 · 2023: 46 · 2022: 6
FWCI
5.89
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
Locations
  • Frontiers in Psychology (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Leadership and Management in Organizations
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Employee Performance and Leadership
Keywords
democratic leadership, employee participation in decision-making, leadership styles, empowering leadership, directive leadership, antecedents of leadership, leadership outcomes, social exchange theory, conservation of resources theory, social cognitive theory, social information processing theory, implicit leadership theory, research agenda

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