IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/sae/simgam/v52y2021i2p185-203.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Distributed Leadership in Collegiate Esports

Author

Listed:
  • Evan Falkenthal
  • Andrew M. Byrne

Abstract

Background. Current research supports the use of recreational games in higher education settings for student development. Team-based esports in collegiate settings offer leadership experiences analogous to other organizational contexts. Distributed leadership reflects leader roles shared dynamically with multiple points of salience and dynamic or absent hierarchy. Aim. This study looked at elements of distributed leadership claimed among collegiate esports teams and whether esports play contributed to distributed leadership development. Methods. This phenomenological deductive qualitative research study used themes from distributed leadership theory to examine the experiences of focus groups composed of competitive collegiate esports participants on three teams from three different popular esport games, respectively. Results. Researchers found that ample comparisons across respondent team interviews corresponded with the leadership theory and found that the more static influence of credibility seemed to mediate team-based communications and behaviors. Conclusion. Implications for distributed leadership both in esports and in other organizations include considerations for intentionality behind how hierarchies are enacted and how credibility may inform an understanding of power distribution within teams.

Suggested Citation

  • Evan Falkenthal & Andrew M. Byrne, 2021. "Distributed Leadership in Collegiate Esports," Simulation & Gaming, , vol. 52(2), pages 185-203, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:52:y:2021:i:2:p:185-203
    DOI: 10.1177/1046878120958750
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1046878120958750
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1177/1046878120958750?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sergi, Viviane & Denis, Jean-Louis & Langley, Ann, 2012. "Opening Up Perspectives on Plural Leadership," Industrial and Organizational Psychology, Cambridge University Press, vol. 5(4), pages 403-407, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Shabnam A. Shaikh & Anna-Maija Lämsä & Suvi Heikkinen, 2023. "Collaborative Leadership in the Institution of Higher Education: A Sociocultural Context of Pakistan," South Asian Journal of Business and Management Cases, , vol. 12(1), pages 65-80, April.
    2. Jane Phuong & Pia Rowe & Ann Lawless, 2023. "Navigating the river: Experiences of women academic leaders in Vietnam," Australian Journal of Management, Australian School of Business, vol. 48(4), pages 754-768, November.
    3. Raelin, Joseph A., 2017. "What are you afraid of: Collective leadership and its learning implications," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 49(1), pages 59-66.
    4. Raelin, Joseph A., 2020. "Hierarchy’s subordination of democracy and how to outrank it," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 51(5), pages 620-633.
    5. Kang, Seungmin & Svensson, Per G., 2019. "Shared leadership in sport for development and peace: A conceptual framework of antecedents and outcomes," Sport Management Review, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 464-476.
    6. Raelin, Joseph A., 2019. "Toward a methodology for studying leadership-as-practice," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 16(4), pages 480-508.
    7. Gianluca Carnabuci & Cécile Emery & David Brinberg, 2018. "Emergent Leadership Structures in Informal Groups: A Dynamic, Cognitively Informed Network Model," Organization Science, INFORMS, vol. 29(1), pages 118-133, February.
    8. Raelin, Joseph A., 2016. "Imagine there are no leaders: Reframing leadership as collaborative agency," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 12(2), pages 131-158.
    9. Raelin, Joseph A., 2020. "In Leadership, Look to the Practices Not to the Individual," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, pages 1-6.
    10. Raelin, Joseph A., 2022. "Refining the Ethics of Leadership-as-Practice: A Counter-Case Analysis," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 41(1), pages 139-156.
    11. Raelin, Joseph A., 2019. "Deriving an affinity for collective leadership: below the surface of action learning," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 16(2), pages 123-135.
    12. Ryömä, Arto, 2020. "The interplay of heroic and post-heroic leadership: Exploring tensions in leadership manifestations in the oscillations between onstage and offstage contexts," Scandinavian Journal of Management, Elsevier, vol. 36(1).
    13. Allal-Chérif, Oihab & Guijarro-García, María & Ballester-Miquel, José Carlos & Carrilero-Castillo, Agustín, 2021. "Being an ethical leader during the apocalypse: Lessons from the walking dead to face the COVID-19 crisis," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 133(C), pages 354-364.
    14. Sigrid Endres & Jürgen Weibler, 2020. "Understanding (non)leadership phenomena in collaborative interorganizational networks and advancing shared leadership theory: an interpretive grounded theory study," Business Research, Springer;German Academic Association for Business Research, vol. 13(1), pages 275-309, April.
    15. Charlotte Croft & Gerry McGivern & Graeme Currie & Andy Lockett & Dimitrios Spyridonidis, 2022. "Unified Divergence and the Development of Collective Leadership," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 59(2), pages 460-488, March.
    16. Ali Babaee & Iman Miremadi & Ali N. Mashayekhi, 2023. "Bio‐pharma in Iran: Escaping the middle‐income trap," Development Policy Review, Overseas Development Institute, vol. 41(2), March.
    17. George, Charles & Gibson, Cristina B. & Barbour, Jennifer, 2022. "Shared leadership across cultures: Do traditionalism and virtuality matter?," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 28(1).
    18. Gaim, Medhanie, 2018. "On the emergence and management of paradoxical tensions: The case of architectural firms," European Management Journal, Elsevier, vol. 36(4), pages 497-518.
    19. Love, Peter E.D. & Ika, Lavagnon & Matthews, Jane & Fang, Weili, 2021. "Shared leadership, value and risks in large scale transport projects: Re-calibrating procurement policy for post COVID-19," Research in Transportation Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    20. Louis Cousin & Luc K. Audebrand, 2023. "Cooperative associations: frameworks of distributed leadership for collective digital innovation," Post-Print hal-04292962, HAL.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:sae:simgam:v:52:y:2021:i:2:p:185-203. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: SAGE Publications (email available below). General contact details of provider: .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.