Research on leadership potential: where are we and where should we be heading?

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Purpose The purpose of this study is to clarify the definitional inconsistencies around the concept of “leadership potential” and differentiate it from related constructs, provide a comprehensive review of the literature and propose a research agenda to guide future studies. Design/methodology/approach The authors adopt a systematic literature review method to achieve this purpose. Adhering to the established guidelines, they analyzed 81 empirical articles published in 27 leading journals from 2011 to 2024. Findings Despite its prominence in discussions of leadership emergence, development, effectiveness and promotability, the literature lacks consensus on operationalizing leadership potential. In response, the authors propose a novel operationalization based on Pinder’s (1988) three dimensions of motivation, namely – direction, intensity and persistence of behavior. The analysis of this paper structured through the theory-context-characteristics-method (TCCM) framework identifies several critical gaps: One-third of the reviewed studies lack a theoretical foundation, while the remaining predominantly rely on trait and cognition-based approaches; most research emphasizes individual-level predictors and outcomes, with limited exploration of contextual factors; and quantitative approaches dominate the field leaving room for alternative methodological approaches. Based on these observations, a future research agenda using TCCM has been proposed. Originality/value This study contributes uniquely to the leadership literature by clarifying the distinctions between “leadership potential” and related constructs, introducing an operationalization grounded in Pinder’s motivational framework and presenting a holistic view of the literature on leadership potential. Further, this study advances the field by proposing a future research agenda, an aspect previously unexplored. Additionally, the authors use the TCCM framework, a guided framework for systematic literature review that has not been adopted in the leadership literature.