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The social construction of leadership studies: representations of rigour and relevance in textbooks

Carroll, B.
Firth, J.
Ford, Jackie M.
Taylor, S.
Publication Date
01/04/2018
End of Embargo
Supervisor
Rights
The final, definitive version of this paper has been published in Leadership by SAGE Publications Ltd, All rights reserved. © 2016 SAGE Publications Ltd.
Peer-Reviewed
Yes
Open Access status
openAccess
Accepted for publication
01/08/2016
Institution
Department
Awarded
Embargo end date
Additional title
Abstract
Considerations of rigour and relevance rarely acknowledge students, learning, or the textbooks many of the academic community use to frame education. Here we explore the construction of meaning around rigour and relevance in four leadership studies textbooks – the two most globally popular leadership textbooks and two recent additions to the field – to explore how these ideas are represented. We read the four texts narratively for structure, purpose, style, and application. We further embed the analysis by considering the cultural positioning of the textbook-as-genre within leadership studies as a field more generally. This exploration of the textbook raises critical questions about rigour, relevance and the relationship constructed between them. From this, we argue for a re-commitment to the genuine ‘text-book’ written to engage students in understanding leadership as a continuing conversation between practices, theories, and contexts, rather than as a repository of rigorous and/or relevant content that lays claim to represent an objective science of leadership studies.
Version
Accepted manuscript
Citation
Carroll B, Firth J, Ford J and Taylor S (2018) The social construction of leadership studies: representations of rigour and relevance in textbooks. Leadership. 14(2): 159-178.
Link to publisher’s version
Link to published version
Type
Article
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Notes