Structure and dynamics of distributed leadership in the perspective of social network analysis

Distributed leadership (DL) is a cooperation pattern that at least two individuals act as leaders in a team. This paper goes beyond the accumulative perspective of DL. First, basing on social network theory, it analyzes the structure of leader-role distribution at team level and at individual level with the measures of density and centrality, respectively. Then, the comparison of DL and centralized leadership is delineated by the curve of density and centrality of leadership network. Finally, four phases of communication and two kinds of trust describe the dynamical development of DL, with the explanation of character of the density curve. This paper furthers the operational concept of DL and draws a base for research on the relationship of DL and organizational performance.