Shared Leadership in Voluntary Organisations: An Exploratory Survey using Internal Stakeholder Perspective

Management research has predominantly focuses on vertical leadership, which is synonymous with top-down management. Increasingly however, other forms of distributed leadership are observable across organisations. In this research, we explore the involvement of stakeholders in the functions of leadership through the shared leadership paradigm. Using a quantitative approach, the research surveyed 126 respondents in the voluntary sector with a view to assess the level of shared leadership among organisation stakeholders and identify key factors that affect the shared leadership process. Findings suggest relatively high level of shared leadership with stakeholder involvement more prevalent at consultative levels rather than participative levels. Furthermore, stakeholder status within the organisation is identified as a significant factor in determining the level of shared leadership.