Future research on educational leadership: theoretical groundings of educational leadership research

Abstract

What is theory? What is theory for? What are the theories that make up the current theoretical groundings in educational leadership research? How to contribute to theory development in educational leadership? This article aims to answer these questions. To peek into the future of theoretical groundings of educational leadership, I first chart advances over the past decades about what theories have been frequently used to frame empirical studies in educational leadership research. Over the last two decades from 1999 to 2018, there were 483 theories used to frame empirical articles theoretically. The dominant theories fall into four categories: (1) leadership styles, (2) theories in organizational context, (3) sociological, psychological, and socio-psychological theories, and (4) theories about social justice. After taking stock of many past studies, I provide readers with two recommendations for theory development in educational leadership: refining definitions of theories and theory pruning.