Final Arete - Volume 4, No 1 Fall Winter 2026

Pioneering New Fields of Study: Lessons and Reflections from the Nascent Field of Global Leadership

Joyce Osland, Ph.D. Professor Emeritus, Lucas College and Graduate School of Business San Jose State University USA

Mark E. Mendenhall, Ph.D. J. Burton Frierson Chair of Excellence in Business Leadership, Gary W. Rollins College of Business, The University of Tennessee, Chattanooga USA

Abstract

Background and Objectives: In the hope that other scholars can learn from our experiences, we share the strategies and steps we have taken to advance the nascent field of global leadership over the past two and a half decades. Approach: We begin by discussing the meaning and requirements of a field of study. After identifying the external drivers that enabled global leadership’s growth, we mention the individual champions who devoted time and effort to growing the field. We acknowledge g lobal leadership’s multidisciplinary roots and the challenges of creating a construct definition that distinguishes global leadership from related fields. Results/Conclusion: We acknowledge the major contributions that emerged from a partnership with Emerald Group Publishing’s Advances in Global Leadership series and discuss the variety of approaches we took to expand the field’s reach within the social sciences.

Keywords: global leadership, birthing new fields of study, multi-disciplinary fields of study, theory-building, construct definition

Paper type: Critical Essay, Perspective & Reflection Essay

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