Content or Connections? Socio-Semantic Analysis of Leaders' Communication Styles in a Creative Collective

Abstract

In small group settings, is it the position in social networks or the content of communication that constitutes a leader? Studies focussing on the content suggest that leadership consists in creating and promoting meanings, whereas studies focussing on the connections stress that it is the network position that ‘makes a leader’. These two dimensions of leadership communication style have not been compared yet. To fill this gap, this chapter applies an emerging approach – socio-semantic network analysis – to jointly consider the content of, and the connections, in leaders' communication. Using a multisource dataset, we empirically study the social network positions (social network analysis) and the content of communication (semantic network analysis) of three leaders in a creative collective. Our findings reveal that different styles of leadership make diverse use of the content and the connections in a small group. The academic and practical implications are outlined.

Citation

Basov, N., Antonyuk, A. and Hellsten, I. (2020), "Content or Connections? Socio-Semantic Analysis of Leaders' Communication Styles in a Creative Collective", Cattani, G., Ferriani, S., Godart, F. and Sgourev, S.V. (Ed.) Aesthetics and Style in Strategy (Advances in Strategic Management, Vol. 42), Emerald Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 101-118. https://doi.org/10.1108/S0742-332220200000042004