Leadership development as identity construction. Management Communication Quarterly 24(2): 211–31

The authors seek to broaden the focus and orientation of social constructionism in leadership development. Previous research has predominantly concerned identity-orientated approaches focused on regulation as opposed to construction of identity. Social constructionism challenges us to view leadership participants as subjects and objects. Using the concept of a “space of action,” the authors focus on places in leadership development where identity work is visible, inducing different kinds of agency. Three different responses are analyzed, exploring their implications for leadership development. The authors propose the importance of three communicative responses in allowing alternative identity storylines to remain open and active. The authors support leadership development as a site, discourse, and series of practices that equips us to work with identity in fluid, dynamic, and plural ways. Keywords leadership development, identity work, social construction, discourse, narrative We intend to explore how the social construction of leadership literature informs and shapes leadership development. Social construction approaches to leadership have already established and enacted a distinctive body of theo-retical and empirical work and continue to build a range and volume of research. Social construction is increasingly being adopted to challenge existing understandings and practices of leadership development, which ha