Pluralized leadership in complex organizations: Exploring the cross network effects between formal and informal leadership relations

Understanding the connection between leadership and informal social network structures is important in advancing understanding of the enactment of pluralized leadership. In this article we explore how the enactment of pluralized leadership is shaped by leadership influence and informal (advice and support) networks and the interactions between the two. Building on recent developments in Exponential Random Graph Modeling, we empirically model the cross network effects across three leadership networks and explore different forms of cross network effects and under what conditions they occur. Our findings suggest that patterns of pluralized leadership have important endogenous qualities, as shaped through actors' leadership and informal networks, and are important for understanding the required capability for facing increasingly complex organizational situations.