Mirror, mirror on the wall: Shifting leader–follower power dynamics in a social media context

Abstract

The democratisation made possible by social media presents leadership studies with an opportunity to re-evaluate the often-neglected role of power in leader–follower dynamics. Drawing on Critical Leadership Studies and using a hybrid qualitative methodology, we discover that relationships between social media leaders and followers are co-produced and largely accompanied by continuous shifts and re-negotiation of power between social media leaders and social media followers. We show that social media platforms and their metrics play an important role in such power shifts by granting equal access to communication whilst potentially tilting information asymmetries in favour of the follower. The study also shows how these relationships can affect and even pervert the leaders’ problematic search for a ‘true self’. From this observation we draw attention to wider challenges in the social media context, which poses important questions for the leadership field.

Local political leadership: from managerial performances to leaders-hip hop on social media?

“…In other words, being able to communicate effectively on social networks today, rather than expressing a managerial orientation and using a managerial vocabulary, is perceived by other leaders (e.g., city councilors and public managers) and/or followers (e.g., citizens) as well as by the local political leaders themselves, as a more important technology of leadership. However, as described by Kellerman (2008), this leadership is actually very often a followership, where languages and contents are co-produced by leaders and followers with a shift of power from the leader toward the followers with “potentially tilting information asymmetries in favour of the follower” (Gilani et al , 2020, p. 343).…”

“…In terms of practice, the paper sheds light on some leadership practices through which local political leaders legitimize and nurture their position of leadership in a given temporal and socio-cultural context. Specifically, the paper highlights the increasing importance of social media and digital leadership (e.g., Gilani et al , 2020; Gustafsson and Weinryb, 2020). Following Orr and Vince (2009), the managerial implications of this study deal with encouraging and enabling “researchers and practitioners to have a reflexive view of local circumstances …[to] help diagnose the ‘softer’ contextual variables in these organizations” (Orr and Vince, 2009, p. 656).…”

The Importance of Followership in Human Resources

“…Business, Management, and Accounting is the most common subject area to see studies of followership. Followership has an apparent relationship with leadership (Gilani et al, 2020). Many people know that human resource (HR) is the division of a business that is charged with finding, screening, recruiting, and training job applicants and administering employee‐benefit programs.…”

“…The relationship between leaders and followership is co‐produced (Gilani et al, 2020). The followers’ engagement can define their leaders, and responsibility and respect for each other are the fundamental elements in the interaction between leaders and followers (Billot et al, 2013).…”

Where have all the followers gone?

“…The phenomenon of social media has arguably reframed the meaning of being a follower (Gilani et al, 2020). It is now ever present in people's lives.…”