A Proposed Conceptualization of Joyful Leadership

Joyful leadership is a construct that has emerged in the grey literature but has, as yet failed to received considerable attention in the academic literature. This paper proposes a conceptualisation of the joyful leadership aligned to discrete emotion theory and identifies the potential association of the specific response patterns associated with joy demonstrated in the leadership context. This paper outlines the conceptual understanding of both leadership and joy and denote how such understanding can inform the conceptualisation of joyful leadership. It provides an initial understanding of the aspect of positive affect in the context of leadership.