Leadership efficacy: Review and future directions

Authors

Sean T. Hannah, United States Military Academy, USAFollow
Bruce Avolio, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Fred Luthans, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow
Peter D. Harms, University of Nebraska - LincolnFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2008

Comments

Published in The Leadership Quarterly (2008), doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2008.09.007 Copyright © 2008 Published by Elsevier Inc. Used by permission. http://www.elsevier.com/locate/leaqua

Abstract

The concept of leader efficacy has received relatively little attention in the leadership literature. This is somewhat surprising given that effective leadership requires high levels of agency (i.e., deliberately or intentionally exerting positive influence) and confidence. This review uses existing theory and research on leader efficacy as a point of departure for proposing an expanded and multi-level framework for understanding the domain of leadership efficacy that includes eader, follower, and collective efficacies. The primary goals are to provide a conceptual framework to stimulate future theory and research on building efficacious leadership and to understand how such leadership develops and has implications for effective performance.