In general, leadership can be regarded as an organizational factor that is able to determine the direction of organizational development. In this case, the leader is responsible for various aspects of the organization, including followers who are members of the organization. If leaders can fulfill all of their responsibilities, they will be able to motivate and direct their employees. Considering the importance of a leader in organizations, research on leadership is increasingly being carried out in order to understand and identify the traits, styles, dyadic relationships, group relationships, processes, and interventions from leaders to followers. Various kinds of research have led to many emerging concepts or ideas about leadership. These concepts appear to answer the challenges for organizations that are in a dynamic environment and require responsive adjustments.
One of the ideas about leadership put forward resulted in path-goal theory. Based on this theory, there are four leadership styles: directive leadership, participative leadership, achievement-oriented leadership, and supportive leadership (SL). With regard to SL, it is quite common to find research on this topic during the last seven years. These studies seek to determine the impact or benefits that can be obtained from SL, in addition to the factors that determine it. However, it is still rare to find research that discusses SL itself in depth from the many studies. Therefore, this research was conducted in order to provide an understanding of the literature on SL, especially its antecedents and consequences as part of the development of organizational research. Through this study, this research also aims to be able to develop a model or research framework related to supportive leadership.
Furthermore, along with various studies in the future, the idea of SL also developed, giving rise to various definitions with various emphases. In his research, stated that SL is a leadership style that focuses on meeting the needs and welfare of followers and creating a comfortable climate for interacting within the organization. The needs, welfare, and climate are more directed to social and emotional support, which is manifested through leader behavior. The leader’s behavior can be in the form of sympathy, caring, listening, and so on.
Based on the studies above, it can be seen that there are various ideas on the definition of SL which differ in terms of emphasis. The differences can be understood when viewed from the context of each different research. However, based on these ideas, it can be stated that SL is a form of leadership style that emphasizes the leader’s support for the fulfillment of psychological (social and emotional) and non-social needs. Psychological (work-related) on each of his followers. The form of leader support is manifested in the form of leader behaviors that directly or indirectly provide support.
In order to conduct a further study of the SL concept, this study used the literature review. In this case, the literature review is carried out by reviewing or reviewing previous studies with the topic being discussed. The SL concept discussed in the literature review includes definitions, antecedents, consequences, and research developments. With reference to these four things, a reference search was done in the form of previous studies through online databases.
In conducting reference searches, bibliometrics using VosViewer 1.6.16 software is used to visualize the relationship between SL topics and other topics, so that reference searches are easier to do. However, not all previous studies were used as references in this study. There are certain criteria that must be met. The criteria include:
1. Is a scientific article;
2. Sourced from scientific journals;
3. Published in 2015-2020; and
4. Keywords: Supportive Leadership.
This study aims to examine more about Supportive Leadership. This study uses 16 relevant scientific articles that examine Supportive Leadership from 2015 to 2021. This study discusses the concept of Supportive Leadership, including definitions, antecedents, consequences, and the development of the research context. However, the main focus is on antecedents and consequents.
Furthermore, the findings of this study indicate that there are three factors that determine Supportive Leadership, namely acute stressors, innovative culture, and leader workload. In addition, there are also various kinds of impacts caused by Supportive Leadership. In general, Supportive Leadership contributes to determining individuals’ attitudes, behavior, and performance. Apart from the individual level, Supportive Leadership is also known to have an effect on the team and organizational levels. Furthermore, Supportive Leadership development can also be traced through 16 relevant reference articles. The research on Supportive Leadership is not limited to certain contexts but has also begun to penetrate into various contexts.
With these findings, a conceptual framework can be formed that describes the relationship between the antecedents and consequents of Supportive Leadership. However, the framework still needs to be refined by referring to various research contexts on Supportive Leadership. This needs to be done in the context of developing a more diverse research construction according to the conditions in each organization.
Author: Anis Eliyana
Detailed information from this study can be viewed on our article at :
https://www.ijsmsjournal.org/ijsms-v5i2p109.html (Supportive Leadership: A Literature Review)
