Toward Construct Clarity in Followership Research

Abstract

Accelerating interest in followership research and practice is advancing development of followership as a field of study. Despite this, many are still confused by what followership is and how it differs from leadership. Findings from our review of followership research show that of the papers self-identified as followership, nearly half are more accurately described as leadership or general employee behavior (and not followership). Of the papers categorized as followership, nearly all use reversing the lens approaches, with less than 10% categorized as co-creation. Using these findings and drawing from the literature, we delineate theoretical boundaries between leadership, followership, and employeeship to help drive construct clarity in followership research. We also simplify previous conceptualizations of followership into two main categories of studies that emerged in our review: reversing the lens and co-creation approaches. We conclude by using paradigm interplay between reversing the lens and co-creation approaches to show how we can realize the potential and promise of followership by advancing theoretical frameworks that position leadership/followership as a co-creation.