Reconceptualizing Multilevel Leader-Follower Shared Outcomes

Abstract

While research on leadership has acknowledged the joint efforts of leaders and followers, advancements in conceptualizing the outcomes of such joint efforts have stagnated. Integrating leadership theory and research with multilevel theories on emergent states, we develop and propose a new framework of shared leader-follower outcomes (SLFOs). We reconceptualize SLFOs as four emergent states (presence, synergy, professionalism and chemistry) that are proximal outcomes in teams. Each SLFO is an early indicator of corresponding key traditional outcomes (absenteeism, productivity, quality and satisfaction) that focus on the leader, followers, or the team as a whole. We also discuss the dynamics of emergence of SLFOs from the dyadic leader-follower level to the team level through composition (i.e. convergent) and compilation (i.e., divergent) processes. Our framework extends leadership theories by accounting for emergent states as shared leader-follower outcomes that temporally unfold over multiple levels of analysis. We develop propositions to guide future empirical research on leader-follower proximal outcomes of presence, synergy, professionalism, and chemistry.