Self‐leadership: A meta‐analysis of over two decades of research

Self‐leadership has been the subject of dozens of empirical investigations over the past several decades and has emerged as a pivotal construct in the self‐influence literature. Despite the interest in the construct, the myriad of disparate variables studied and the absence of a quantitative systematic review summarizing findings have combined to limit our ability to cohesively interpret and draw meaningful conclusions from this large literature. To address this, we carried out a meta‐analysis of the nomological network of self‐leadership, encompassing effect sizes from 101 studies and 111 independent samples. Drawing on social cognitive theory to frame our research questions and hypotheses, we evaluate global self‐leadership and its constituent strategies (i.e., behaviour‐focused, constructive thought, natural rewards) as predictors of job performance, self‐efficacy, and job attitudes. In addition to evaluating zero‐order correlations, we use regression and relative‐weight analyses to evaluate the three strategies’ effects on the various outcomes simultaneously, delineating their relative contributions. Our meta‐analysis examines the Five‐Factor Model of personality traits as antecedents. We also observed evidence suggesting that self‐leadership’s relationships were moderated by national power distance. Implications for research and practice are discussed. Practitioner points Self‐leadership is meaningfully associated with conscientiousness, openness, extraversion, and transformational leadership. Fostering employee self‐leadership may promote productive cognition, attitudes, and behaviors. Self‐leadership training programs can target specific strategies for training based on the desired outcome.