Do shining stars cast shadows on others? Investigating the effect of star centrality on shared leadership

Ahsan Ali, Janet A. Boekhorst and Hongwei Wang

Journal of Business Research, 2025, vol. 189, issue C

Abstract: Research has identified formal leaders and team characteristics as the two primary antecedents of shared leadership. However, little insight has been provided into the role of specific team members, despite the fact that some team members can have a disproportionate influence on others. Drawing from adaptive leadership and social comparison theories, we propose that star centrality is negatively related to shared leadership via nonstars’ leadership-related underdog expectations. We posit these direct and indirect effects are moderated by team cognitive diversity. Two field studies were conducted using time-separated, multisource data to test these team-level hypotheses. Results showed that star centrality has a negative direct effect on shared leadership and a negative indirect effect on shared leadership via nonstars’ leadership-related underdog expectations. These direct and indirect effects are strengthened under conditions of low team cognitive diversity. Theoretical implications about how star centrality can affect shared leadership are provided, followed by practical recommendations.

Keywords: Shared leadership; Star employees; Leadership-related underdog expectations; Cognitive diversity; Adaptive leadership theory; Social comparison theory (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jbrese:v:189:y:2025:i:c:s0148296324006751

DOI: 10.1016/j.jbusres.2024.115171

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