Leadership and levels of analysis: A state-of-the-science review

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present a comprehensive, qualitative, narrative review of the leadership literature with an explicit focus on levels-of-analysis issues. Focusing on conceptual and empirical publications (books, book chapters, and journal articles) over the last 10 years in 17 areas of leadership research, we reviewed and coded 348 journal articles and book chapters for the degree of appropriate inclusion and use of levels of analysis in theory formulation, construct/variable measurement, data analytic techniques, and inference drawing. In general, while the literature on leadership is vast and growing, relatively few studies in any of the areas of leadership research have addressed levels-of-analysis issues appropriately in theory, measurement, data analysis, and inference drawing. Nevertheless, the findings reported are encouraging, as levels issues are still relatively new to the leadership field and some progress clearly has been made in the last decade. The implications of the current state-of-the-science for future research and the advancement of study in leadership are discussed.