Evaluation and impact of leadership development program for physicians in healthcare and medical education: conceptual and pragmatic considerations.

Purpose: The purpose of this study is to review the current state of the evaluation of leader and leadership development programs (LDPs) for physicians and medical learners, identify issues, suggest improvements and propose a framework.

Design/methodology/approach: A narrative review of the evaluation of LDPs was performed (English language literature from 2010 to 2024, including peer-reviewed [PUBMED, EMBASE, CINAHL, MEDLINE, MedEdPORTAL, PsychInfo, Scopus, Business Source Elite and ERIC] and gray literature). Analysis and synthesis of literature included a critical examination of notions and concepts.

Findings: The evidence for the positive impact of leadership development programs is growing. The main issues are a lack of a strategic organizational approach, heavy reliance on one evaluation model with findings predominantly evaluated at lower levels subjectively, lack of rigor including endogeneity issues and limited use of complex far transfer outcomes. Suggestions for improvements include a strategic approach to evaluation with a broader use of other taxonomy-based models and realist and constructivist approaches to evaluation, consideration of outcome clusters of education, training and developmental pathways, utilizing a wider array of methods and integrating findings.

Practical implications: The proposed conceptual approach links individual and organizational outcomes and lower-level program evaluation with "strategic evaluation" using robust evaluation frameworks and a wider array of methods.

Originality/value: This review has critically examined individual outcomes of three modalities - education, training and development. It has emphasized organizational strategy and proposed groups of outcomes and realized benefits that can be utilized in episodic and longitudinal manner using modifications to evaluation design.