Followership

Followership focuses on the follower and following in the leadership process, rather than the traditional focus on the leader and leading. Most leadership theory explicitly or implicitly relies on the construction of followers: Without followers there cannot be a leader. Research and commentary on leadership usually favour an individualistic view of the leader and the social influence process of leadership amongst people, with the former labelled leader-centric. Followership, on the other hand, favours a follower-centric view and the practice of following in the social influence process of leadership. Despite leadership relying on followership, followership generally receives less attention than leadership in commentary and research. Followership is also open to criticism, especially in relation to what extent people identify themselves as followers.

This entry provides an overview ...