Willing unwillingness. A Luhmannian perspective on followership and leadership in organizations

Abstract

This paper examines how organization theorists within social systems theory in the tradition of Niklas Luhmann view hierarchical steering and seek to adapt Luhmann's ideas to the complexities of contemporary organizations. We contribute to this debate by linking it to leadership and followership literature, introducing the paradox of ‘willing unwillingness’ to describe personal engagement in organizations. From this concept, we develop a typology of organizational roles: leaders, role shifters, followers and outsiders. Through in‐depth interviews with Brazilian public servants and thematic analysis, our findings reveal that these roles are shaped by emotional experiences and variable psychic engagement, rather than hierarchical structures, offering new insights for systems‐theoretical exploration of organizational roles.