Political Economy and Organizational Leadership: A Hope-based Theory

Abstract

Unlike other disciplines in the humanities and social sciences, economics has neglected leadership. This paper proposes that a distinctive leadership role is to facilitate the development of hope so that organizational members can sustain their commitments. The conceptual grounding for this approach can be found in the work of Amaryta Sen, Albert Hirschman and Jon Elster, who have tried to explain the effect of commitment and emotions on behavior. It is also proposed here that the authority organizational leaders have to call meetings gives them the capacity both to influence social interactions to carry out this role, and to gauge the organization's cultural strength and its members' receptiveness to inspirational information that can shape the choice of leadership styles.