Running creative organizations : role interpretations and leadership behavior

Leadership in arts and cultural sector has been increasingly thematized in leadership, non-profit and arts management research. The focus has been particularly on the characteristics and qualities of leaders, leadership styles, leadership structure. On one hand, studies on leadership characteristics have shown that expertise (Mumford, Connelly & Gaddis, 2002), authenticity, authority, and charisma (Boerner, Krause & Gebert, 2004; Abfalter, 2013) of leaders are key leadership traits in theatres. In an orchestra setting, for example, continuous interaction with musicians (D’Ausilio, Badino, Li, et al. 2012) and the ability to align an orchestra towards producing a superior performance (Tskhay, Xu & Rule, 2014) is considered a key trait of a successful orchestra leader. Similarly, Koivunen and Wennes (2011) argue that leadership in orchestras cannot be associated with only one person but should be seen as a relational process between musicians and orchestra conductor