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    Rights statement: The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Leadership, 17 (1), 2021 © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2021 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Leadership page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/LEA on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/

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Where have all the followers gone?

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

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Where have all the followers gone? / Kempster, Steve; Schedlitzki, Doris; Edwards, Gareth.
In: Leadership, Vol. 17, No. 1, 01.01.2021, p. 118-128.

Research output: Contribution to Journal/Magazine › Journal article › peer-review

Harvard

Kempster, S, Schedlitzki, D & Edwards, G 2021, 'Where have all the followers gone?', Leadership, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 118-128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715020983223

APA

Kempster, S., Schedlitzki, D., & Edwards, G. (2021). Where have all the followers gone? Leadership, 17(1), 118-128. https://doi.org/10.1177/1742715020983223

Vancouver

Kempster S, Schedlitzki D, Edwards G. Where have all the followers gone? Leadership. 2021 Jan 1;17(1):118-128. doi: 10.1177/1742715020983223

Author

Kempster, Steve ; Schedlitzki, Doris ; Edwards, Gareth. / Where have all the followers gone?. In: Leadership. 2021 ; Vol. 17, No. 1. pp. 118-128.

Bibtex

@article{1dc94a9bdebf4c67ab8ce14e1f5b1143,
title = "Where have all the followers gone?",
abstract = "In this article we explore and problematise the axiomatic assumption of follower in the field of leadership studies – notably the leader-follower axiom as the essential foundation of much leadership theorising. We do so, firstly by drawing on our experiences of exploring followership conceptually and, secondly, by reviewing conversations with Executive MBA students. From these sources we argue that the absence of identifications with followership offers a challenge to leadership assumptions around the socio-materiality of followers and their relations with leaders within organisational contexts. This leads us to questions like: what if follower identifications do not typically exist or are rejected in everyday organisational working contexts – despite discursive labelling of individuals as followers or following practices? Would or should leadership research and its examination of leader-follower dynamics fundamentally change and in what ways? We explore these questions and suggest very different orientations that might appear with regards to notions of the leadership relationship, leading and following dynamics, practice-based attention to leadership, and perhaps very different approaches to leadership development. Such a (re)appraisal of the leadership lexicon may move notions of follower identification out of social constructions of organisational leadership and towards social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) – where the phenomenon of being a follower is ever present, but is redefined as a phenomenon of vicarious fantasy associated with interest, curiosity and entertainment. ",
keywords = "follower, identity, leadership, axiomatic",
author = "Steve Kempster and Doris Schedlitzki and Gareth Edwards",
note = "The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Leadership, 17 (1), 2021 {\textcopyright} SAGE Publications Ltd, 2021 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Leadership page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/LEA on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/",
year = "2021",
month = jan,
day = "1",
doi = "10.1177/1742715020983223",
language = "English",
volume = "17",
pages = "118--128",
journal = "Leadership",
issn = "1742-7150",
publisher = "SAGE PUBLICATIONS INC",
number = "1",

}

RIS

TY - JOUR

T1 - Where have all the followers gone?

AU - Kempster, Steve

AU - Schedlitzki, Doris

AU - Edwards, Gareth

N1 - The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Leadership, 17 (1), 2021 © SAGE Publications Ltd, 2021 by SAGE Publications Ltd at the Leadership page: https://journals.sagepub.com/home/LEA on SAGE Journals Online: http://journals.sagepub.com/

PY - 2021/1/1

Y1 - 2021/1/1

N2 - In this article we explore and problematise the axiomatic assumption of follower in the field of leadership studies – notably the leader-follower axiom as the essential foundation of much leadership theorising. We do so, firstly by drawing on our experiences of exploring followership conceptually and, secondly, by reviewing conversations with Executive MBA students. From these sources we argue that the absence of identifications with followership offers a challenge to leadership assumptions around the socio-materiality of followers and their relations with leaders within organisational contexts. This leads us to questions like: what if follower identifications do not typically exist or are rejected in everyday organisational working contexts – despite discursive labelling of individuals as followers or following practices? Would or should leadership research and its examination of leader-follower dynamics fundamentally change and in what ways? We explore these questions and suggest very different orientations that might appear with regards to notions of the leadership relationship, leading and following dynamics, practice-based attention to leadership, and perhaps very different approaches to leadership development. Such a (re)appraisal of the leadership lexicon may move notions of follower identification out of social constructions of organisational leadership and towards social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) – where the phenomenon of being a follower is ever present, but is redefined as a phenomenon of vicarious fantasy associated with interest, curiosity and entertainment.

AB - In this article we explore and problematise the axiomatic assumption of follower in the field of leadership studies – notably the leader-follower axiom as the essential foundation of much leadership theorising. We do so, firstly by drawing on our experiences of exploring followership conceptually and, secondly, by reviewing conversations with Executive MBA students. From these sources we argue that the absence of identifications with followership offers a challenge to leadership assumptions around the socio-materiality of followers and their relations with leaders within organisational contexts. This leads us to questions like: what if follower identifications do not typically exist or are rejected in everyday organisational working contexts – despite discursive labelling of individuals as followers or following practices? Would or should leadership research and its examination of leader-follower dynamics fundamentally change and in what ways? We explore these questions and suggest very different orientations that might appear with regards to notions of the leadership relationship, leading and following dynamics, practice-based attention to leadership, and perhaps very different approaches to leadership development. Such a (re)appraisal of the leadership lexicon may move notions of follower identification out of social constructions of organisational leadership and towards social media (Facebook, Twitter, Instagram) – where the phenomenon of being a follower is ever present, but is redefined as a phenomenon of vicarious fantasy associated with interest, curiosity and entertainment.

KW - follower

KW - identity

KW - leadership

KW - axiomatic

U2 - 10.1177/1742715020983223

DO - 10.1177/1742715020983223

M3 - Journal article

VL - 17

SP - 118

EP - 128

JO - Leadership

JF - Leadership

SN - 1742-7150

IS - 1

ER -