Rethinking Leadership Development: Contributions from Theory and Research

Dear Colleagues,

Leadership and leadership development in numerous contexts (e.g., healthcare, organizations, and sport) have received a particularly large amount of interest from scholars and practitioners around the world. More recent approaches (e.g., ethical leadership, servant leadership, and empowering leadership) have continuously highlighted the critical role that leaders play in the success (or failure) of their organizations. ‘Good’ and effective leaders can enhance team members’ well-being, performance and commitment to the organization, while ‘bad’ leaders may increase members’ stress, dissatisfaction and turnover intentions. These impacts are even recognized in the field, with billions of dollars being spent annually on developing leadership across different organizational levels (cf. Training Industry, 2019).

In this Special Issue, we are seeking theoretical and empirical contributions regarding the development of leadership. This includes (but is not limited to) empirical research testing the effectiveness of intervention programs, systematic reviews involving leadership training, and theory-based guidelines for leadership interventions and leadership development. Other conceptual or qualitative research studies that explain how to develop positive and effective leadership are also within the scope of this Special Issue.

Dr. A. Rui Gomes
Dr. Catarina Morais
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 250 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for assessment.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Behavioral Sciences is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2200 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.