Bibliometric analysis of global research trends on leadership using Scopus database

Abstract

The subject of leadership is endless. Inference is, as generation evolves; the leadership expectancy also changes to adapt with the changes in the environment it governs. For that reason, components of leadership are evolving with time. The search inquiries are coming from many approaches and the discoveries have offered range of solutions to address leadership challenges. Measuring and analysing scientific publications in leadership nevertheless is incomparable to the many publications have been published. This paper attempt to empirically evaluate global research trends on leadership based on publication output, prolific authorship, citations and affiliated countries using VOSviewer software. Additionally, to elevate co-occurrence keyword associated with leadership in literatures meant for insights into future work opportunity. 6,593 publications between year period of 1917 and 2019 retrieved from Scopus database. Through bibliometric analysis results, several observations have emerged. Firstly, the growth in publications number seen significant increase in last 20 years with anticipation the trends further to continue in the future. Secondly, the United States region presently dominating publication output in this area as well as leading in authorship citation compared to the other 98 countries. This suggests big research influence from this region on the present research. Thirdly, emotional intelligence, innovation, capability, knowledge management and management are some of the elevated keywords with high associations with leadership suggesting areas such as leadership capability as growing area. Lastly, under explore keyword association were noted such as digital leadership, leadership competencies, teams and social media which can be potential research themes for future studies.