Self-leadership: A meta-analysis of over two decades of research

Self-leadership has been the subject of dozens of empirical investigations over the past several decades and has emerged as a pivotal construct in the self-influence literature. Despite the interest in the construct, the myriad of disparate variables studied and the absence of a quantitative systematic review summarizing findings have combined to limit our ability to cohesively interpret and draw meaningful conclusions from this large literature. To address this, we carried out a meta-analysis of the nomological network of self-leadership, encompassing effect sizes from 101 studies and 111 independent samples. Drawing on social cognitive theory to frame our research questions and hypotheses, we evaluate global self-leadership and its constituent strategies (i.e., behaviour-focused, constructive thought, natural rewards) as predictors of job performance, self-efficacy, and job attitudes. In addition to evaluating zero-order correlations, we use regression and relative-weight analyses to evaluate the three strategies' effects on the various outcomes simultaneously, delineating their relative contributions. Our meta-analysis examines the Five-Factor Model of personality traits as antecedents. We also observed evidence suggesting that self-leadership's relationships were moderated by national power distance. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Practitioner points Self-leadership is meaningfully associated with conscientiousness, openness, extraversion, and transformational leadership. Fostering employee self-leadership may promote productive cognition, attitudes, and behaviors. Self-leadership training programs can target specific strategies for training based on the desired outcome.