Leadership and Social Transformation: The Role of Marginalized Individuals and Groups

Abstract

Leadership is a process of influence, an omnipresent feature of human societies, and an enduring focus of research and popular interest. Research tends to focus on individual and situational factors facilitating effective leadership and identifying obstacles to leadership. One key obstacle many leaders face it being stigmatized as an outsider who is not suited to leadership. This article and issue of the Journal of Social Issues focuses on how and when people can overcome these obstacles to leadership–the emergence of marginalized, deviant, or minority group members as leaders even when their success is unexpected. This article and issue discuss the challenges these leaders face and identifies conditions under which such leaders can exert influence to achieve social change. We cover various forms of marginal leadership, focusing on leaders who are marginal individuals (e.g., non‐prototypical leaders), who belong to marginal minority subgroups (e.g., leaders from numerical minority groups), or who have marginal demographic status (e.g., female leaders). This article introduces and frames the subsequent articles in this issue of the Journal of Social Issues, on the psychology of being a marginal leader.

The impact of organizational storytelling on organizational performance within Jordanian telecommunication sector

“…It has been revealed from the study that the association between organizational performance and strategic leadership styles is mixed as some aspects of performance are either negatively significant or do not relate when the impact is highly positively significant (Mokhtar et al , 2019). In particular, idealized or charisma impact is positively and significantly associated with profit, owner satisfaction and sales (Rast et al , 2018). The improvement of innovative job satisfaction and performance is assisted through strategic leadership styles (Zeb et al , 2018).…”

Looking for Leadership in All the Wrong Places: The Impact of Culture on Proactive Followership and Follower Dissent

“…As Rast, Hogg, and Randsley de Maura () mention in their introduction, discussions of leadership often focus on one individual who is given credit for the success or failure of a group. We assert that followers also frequently demonstrate leadership through their willingness to voice innovative or divergent ideas to the majority, and that culture plays a critical role in determining when individuals are free to be more proactive in a follower role.…”

Decolonial Approach to Leadership: Latin American Women in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA), Canada

“…Historically, certain people and groups have had difficulty emerging or being perceived as leaders and are therefore less able to exert influence (Rast III, Hogg & Randsley de Moura, 2018). Rosette and Livingston (2012) argue that minority "women possess not just one, but two, subordinate identities -neither of which has been shown to be particularly typical of the leader role -they will be perceived most negatively in a context of failure" (p. 1163) when compared to male counterparts and white women.…”