Mapping the Landscape of Shared Leadership: a Review and Synthesis

As can be seen from the substantial increase in the volume and scope of leadership publications over the last ten to fifteen years, leadership is a construct with important social and relational properties. Shared leadership in particular has attracted considerable attention from organization and management scholars, although there has been surprisingly little focus on the key structuring processes and mechanisms that enable shared leadership. The aim of this paper is to rectify this by identifying the critical factors and mechanisms which enable shared leadership and its antecedents and outcomes, and to develop a synthesized framework of shared leadership. The paper closes with a brief discussion of avenues for future research and implications for managers.