Critical reflection in leadership development

Abstract

Purpose

This paper explores the role of critical reflection in the context of leadership development and how it is measured. The purpose of this paper is to review theoretical and empirical research that captures the application of critical reflection in leadership development.

Design/methodology/approach

This study is an integrative literature review of peer-reviewed journal articles on critical reflection in leadership development. The search revealed 172 peer-reviewed journal articles based on the search terms. The authors conducted a staged review of the abstracts and identified a final sample of 27 empirical articles and 12 non-empirical articles for review.

Findings

The findings of this review show that critical reflection is an essential tool for leadership development and has been utilized in a variety of ways and through multiple theoretical perspectives. Despite being relied on heavily in leadership development, the measurement for critical reflection is not well established in the literature.

Originality/value

The researchers propose a conceptual model that integrates the phases and levels of critical reflection as well as the desired outcomes in leadership development. Implications for leadership development are also discussed.

Citation

Wu, Y. and Crocco, O. (2019), "Critical reflection in leadership development", Industrial and Commercial Training, Vol. 51 No. 7/8, pp. 409-420. https://doi.org/10.1108/ICT-03-2019-0022

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