Distributed leadership from the perspective of economic and administrative sciences

Distributed leadership represents a management approach that addresses the inherent challenges of contemporary organizations, which face high complexity due to the need for constant adaptation. This research adopted a systematic literature review design to analyze the development of distributed leadership from economic and administrative sciences. A total of 623 documents indexed in Scopus between 2019 and 2024 were examined using bibliometric and qualitative analyses with tools such as VOSviewer. The results reveal exponential growth in scientific production (126.7% since 2019), initially led by the United States and the United Kingdom but with increasing contributions from emerging economies such as Malaysia and Jordan. Four main thematic clusters were identified: hybrid leadership (transformational/ethical), organizational dynamics, critical contexts (education/health), and digital transformation. However, geographical gaps (Latin America, Africa) and methodological biases persist, with a predominance of cross-sectional quantitative studies over qualitative approaches. In education, distributed leadership was found to strengthen teacher collaboration and institutional effectiveness. In the business sector, it was associated with greater innovation and resilience, particularly in technology industries and crisis contexts.

Investigación IESED