Learning What Leadership Is: A Qualitative Study into the Construction of Implicit Leadership Theories in Children.
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| Title: | Learning What Leadership Is: A Qualitative Study into the Construction of Implicit Leadership Theories in Children. |
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| Authors: | Escobar Vega, Claudia (AUTHOR), Billsberry, Jon (AUTHOR), Molineux, John (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Journal of Constructivist Psychology. Jul-Sep2026, Vol. 39 Issue 3, p397-423. 27p. |
| Subjects: | Leadership, Cognitive development, Thematic analysis, School children, Qualitative research, Cognitive structures |
| Abstract: | Implicit leadership theories (ILTs) occupy a central position in socially constructed approaches to leadership. To date, most research into ILTs has focused on how they present in adults and relatively little research has looked at their development in children, which is an important omission because it is during this early period when future adult conceptualizations of leadership are formed. A qualitative investigation was conducted into the nature of children's ILTs with the goal of integrating previous findings into robust theory about the combination of cognitive dimensions through which children's conceptualizations of leadership emerge and develop. Drawings of "leader's leading" were gathered and interviews conducted with 251 Australian 5–12-years-olds (52% female, 93% Australian born). Employing thematic analysis, we broke down children's answers into individual ideas about what constitutes a leader. A code book containing deductive theoretical and inductive emergent codes was compiled and used by the authors to understand the data. The data shows that children's ILTs wax and wane across four cognitive approaches (i.e., functional, physical, relational, and humanitarian) and that these results align with Siegler's overlapping waves theory. Based on this finding, theory is built for future empirical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| Database: | Psychology and Behavioral Sciences Collection |
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| Abstract: | Implicit leadership theories (ILTs) occupy a central position in socially constructed approaches to leadership. To date, most research into ILTs has focused on how they present in adults and relatively little research has looked at their development in children, which is an important omission because it is during this early period when future adult conceptualizations of leadership are formed. A qualitative investigation was conducted into the nature of children's ILTs with the goal of integrating previous findings into robust theory about the combination of cognitive dimensions through which children's conceptualizations of leadership emerge and develop. Drawings of "leader's leading" were gathered and interviews conducted with 251 Australian 5–12-years-olds (52% female, 93% Australian born). Employing thematic analysis, we broke down children's answers into individual ideas about what constitutes a leader. A code book containing deductive theoretical and inductive emergent codes was compiled and used by the authors to understand the data. The data shows that children's ILTs wax and wane across four cognitive approaches (i.e., functional, physical, relational, and humanitarian) and that these results align with Siegler's overlapping waves theory. Based on this finding, theory is built for future empirical studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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| ISSN: | 10720537 |
| DOI: | 10.1080/10720537.2025.2541778 |
