ABSTRACT

Whereas the predominance of leadership research has focused upon top-down influence processes, we examine the process of leading from the inside out, i.e., self-leadership. Based on a meta-analysis of 57 effect sizes and 16,493 observations, the overall results suggest that self-leadership is positively and strongly related to individual outcomes (ρ = .38). Results also help to clarify when self-leadership is most effective relative to outcome type, showing a stronger relationship between self-leadership and creativity/innovation than between self-leadership and task performance. We further explore the incremental value of cognitive self-leadership strategies over and above basic behaviour-focused self-leadership. Our findings suggest that when individuals engage in cumulative self-leadership involving both behavioural and cognitive strategies, relationships with individual outcomes are stronger than when people employ behaviour-focused self-leadership alone. Finally, we explore a meta-analytic path model examining mediating mechanisms to clarify not only how but also why self-leadership influences outcomes of interest. Implications regarding the nature and importance of the mechanisms through which self-leadership is linked to outcomes and future directions for further advancing self-leadership theory and research are delineated.

摘要

尽管领导力研究的优势集中在自上而下的影响过程，但我们研究了由内而外的领导过程，即自我领导。基于对 57 个效应量和 16,493 个观察值的荟萃分析，总体结果表明，自我领导与个人结果呈正相关且密切相关 (ρ = .38)。结果还有助于阐明自我领导相对于结果类型何时最有效，表明自我领导与创造力/创新之间的关系比自我领导与任务绩效之间的关系更强。我们进一步探索认知自我领导策略在基本以行为为中心的自我领导之外的增量价值。我们的研究结果表明，当个人参与涉及行为和认知策略的累积自我领导时，与个人结果的关系比人们单独采用以行为为中心的自我领导时更牢固。最后，我们探索了一个元分析路径模型来检查中介机制，以阐明自我领导如何以及为什么会影响感兴趣的结果。描述了自我领导与结果相关联的机制的性质和重要性以及进一步推进自我领导理论和研究的未来方向。