Conceptual approach to leadership in the social realm

Abstract

This paper discusses the findings of a systematic review process carried out regarding the category of leadership in the social realm. This process was developed from an interdisciplinary perspective. A collection of papers from Latin American countries were chosen using the criteria of inclusion and exclusion. These papers were retrieved from open access databases and search engines, including Redalyc.org and Scielo, and were written between 2010 and 2017. The findings show that the most widely used conceptual theories in relation to social leadership are transformational leadership, helpful leadership and subjective and intersubjective leadership. Additional categories were found to be related to leadership including: community, society, commitments, ethics and morals, social participation and empowerment. Finally, it is argued that leadership is a relative concept, that is to say, depending on the context in which it is researched, a variety of characteristics and taxonomies underlie. However, regarding the social-community leadership, a genuine interest in the collective is present as a transversal axis in most conceptualizations.

Keywords

• community
• empowerment
• leadership
• community leader
• social leader
• society
• social work