TY - JOUR
T1 - Aesthetic leadership
AU - Hansen, Hans
AU - Ropo, Arja
AU - Sauer, Erika
PY - 2007/12
Y1 - 2007/12
N2 - We introduce aesthetic leadership as a promising approach in leadership studies. Two current movements in leadership research, the inclusion of followers in leadership models and the exploration of subjective leadership qualities, make taking an aesthetic perspective in leadership especially attractive and timely. Aesthetics relates to felt meaning generated from sensory perceptions, and involves subjective, tacit knowledge rooted in feeling and emotion. We believe the aesthetics of leadership is an important, but little understood, aspect of organizational life. For example, while we know followers must attribute leadership qualities such as charisma and authenticity to leaders to allow for social influence, we know little about how these processes operate. We propose that followers use their aesthetic senses in making these assessments. We relate aesthetic leadership to several current topics in leadership research, and outline the assumptions and methods of aesthetic leadership.
AB - We introduce aesthetic leadership as a promising approach in leadership studies. Two current movements in leadership research, the inclusion of followers in leadership models and the exploration of subjective leadership qualities, make taking an aesthetic perspective in leadership especially attractive and timely. Aesthetics relates to felt meaning generated from sensory perceptions, and involves subjective, tacit knowledge rooted in feeling and emotion. We believe the aesthetics of leadership is an important, but little understood, aspect of organizational life. For example, while we know followers must attribute leadership qualities such as charisma and authenticity to leaders to allow for social influence, we know little about how these processes operate. We propose that followers use their aesthetic senses in making these assessments. We relate aesthetic leadership to several current topics in leadership research, and outline the assumptions and methods of aesthetic leadership.
KW - Aesthetics
KW - Attribution
KW - Authenticity
KW - Charisma
KW - Follower-centric
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=36549075507&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1016/j.leaqua.2007.09.003
DO - 10.1016/j.leaqua.2007.09.003
M3 - Article
AN - SCOPUS:36549075507
VL - 18
SP - 544
EP - 560
JO - Leadership Quarterly
JF - Leadership Quarterly
SN - 1048-9843
IS - 6
ER -