Leadership and postmodernism: On voice and the qualitative method

Abstract

Over the last 20 years we have seen a wealth of qualitative studies that have utilized a social constructionist framework for investigating various aspects of leadership. What have we learned and what are the challenges that lie ahead? The author touches on recent cultural studies of leadership and then outlines a particular theoretical orientation-postmodernism. He argues that postmodernism offers distinctly different ways for qualitative researchers to approach the study of leadership. In particular, the article considers the textual implications for how authors portray leadership if they subscribe to postmodern notions. The role of the narrator and the function of time in qualitative studies of leadership receive specific attention.