Informal Leadership : An Integrative View and Future Research

Abstract

This article presents an integrative view of informal leadership (IL), leadership action and influence without a designated power position, through a systematic literature review. IL contributes to the new ways of organizing work, and it has received increasing interdisciplinary research attention in the last two decades along with the rise of a multi-level approach to leadership research. The integrative view displays IL being entwined around knowledge, change-orientation, action, communication, group, and influence. Findings suggest that IL is beneficial, for example, to group efficacy, productivity, and social relations. Cross-cutting meta-themes are proposed, i.e. shared meaning, volunteering, granted by others, and organizational (in)visibility. Issues related to formal leadership and power seem to have a significant and understudied impact on informal leadership. Considering the interplay between formal, informal, and collectivistic leadership, the power shift is an elemental feature to be explored. Several suggestions for future research are made, for example on the processuality, temporality, and impact of IL. Informal leadership is demonstrated to be a key element in resolving the knots of leadership in the transformation of work. Informal leadership and collectivistic forms of leadership can contribute significantly to seeking solutions in renewing leadership in organizations and guiding them towards responsibility.