Visionary and empowering leadership in SMEs

With the growth of startups and SMEs, technological developments, and accompanying changes in work processes and organizational structures, leadership approaches that are effective in the context of flatter hierarchies, expanded responsibilities, and increased task complexity among employees are being sought (Biemann et al., 2015; Lee et al., 2017; Srivastava et al., 2006). Recent reviews of the leadership literature show a significant shift in the focus of leadership (Antonakis & Day, 2018; Yukl & Gardner, 2020). Heroic approaches to leadership that focus on the "Great Man" or the charismatic leader are shifting to post-heroic perspectives of leadership that focus more on the followers (Crevani et al., 2007; Furtner & Baldegger, 2016). In this changing research environment, empowering leadership has emerged as a distinct concept in which individual motivation is fostered by sharing power and granting autonomy at the lowest organizational level (Amundsen & Martinsen, 2014)