Leadership discourse analysis: an exploration of a neo-transformational leader

Manuscript code article-28322
DOI 10.1108/jts-12-2025-0064
Keywords: Neo-transformational leadership Leadership discourse analysis Transformational leader Leadership communication Moral legitimation Collective responsibility

Abstract

PurposeThis interdisciplinary study creates a structured link to define neo-transformational leadership via an unconventional method in trade science, called discourse analysis.Design/methodology/approachDrawing on qualitative discourse analysis of longitudinal public leadership communication, the study identifies four core discursive mechanisms through which meaning, legitimacy, and collective responsibility are produced, stabilized, and contested over 15 years.FindingsWe define neo-transformational leadership as the capacity to enact leadership influence through discursive processes of sensegiving, moral legitimation, boundary spanning, and identity narration, through which shared meaning is constructed, collective responsibility is aligned, and legitimacy is sustained over time.Research limitations/implicationsAt its core, neo-transformational leadership shifts leadership influence from personal qualities to the discursive processes through which meaning, legitimacy, and collective orientation are produced.Originality/valueBy foregrounding discourse as a constitutive governance mechanism, this paper contributes to leadership theory by empirically elaborating a mechanism-explicit, process-based framework capable of integrating fragmented leadership literature and by demonstrating how discourse-analytic methods can support cumulative, theory-building research on leadership influence.

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Authors

Bui, Hong T.M. VinUniversity, Hanoi, Vietnam McCarthy, Gemma Amazon Web Services, Manchester, UK

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Published June 10, 2026
Ngày nộp bài June 10, 2026
Ngày chỉnh sửa August 9, 2026
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DOI: 10.1108/jts-12-2025-0064

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