A Methodological Review of Research on Leadership Development and Social Capital: Is There a Cause and Effect Relationship?

Abstract

Recent interest in studying social aspects of leadership has brought attention to the relationship between leadership and social capital. There is also growing interest among stakeholders (researchers, practitioners, funders, and program participants) to improve evaluation methods for leadership development programs (LDPs). The purpose of the present review is to determine the extent to which recent LDP evaluation efforts can support a causal assertion that participation in an LDP enhances an individual’s or group’s social capital. Although they do not dispute that a relationship between leadership and social capital exists, using basic requirements for causal inference described by Shadish, Cook, and Campbell, the authors conclude that the existing literature does not support a causal inference that participation in an LDP necessarily enhances social capital. The limited corpus of work reviewed in this article is indicative of the dearth of scholarly writing on the matter of leadership development efforts and causal inference.