Call for paper: Psychobiographies of Business Leaders

Psychobiographies of Business Leaders

Psychobiographical research focuses on the lives of extraordinary individuals (Mayer & Kőváry, 2019; Ponterotto, 2019). Psychobiographies of business leaders employ organizational psychology, organizational behavior, business management, and other theories to describe and interpret how significant personal, political, social and economic events and experiences influence the behaviors and achievements of extraordinary individuals. Often, these extraordinary individuals’ lifespan, or specific impactful life situations, enhanced their performance to exceptional levels, establishing them as leaders or perceived leaders. Their leadership might be ascribed to their business, professional or social accomplishments, their social activism or their creative impact at societal, national and global levels.

The case study research method is common in management and business research.

During the past years, psychobiographical research has developed into a vibrant and popular area of research and gained considerable international interest (Mayer et al., 2025; Schultz, 2005). The study of individuals is an intriguing and instructive research field that contributes to the holistic understanding of individual behavior and experiences within sociocultural and historical contexts (Mayer et al., 2021a). Extraordinary individuals have been studied from multiple perspectives, such as their personal value systems, leadership styles (Thomas & Strümpf, 2003), communication and conflict resolution styles (Banai, 2023) and mentoring abilities and coping with complex challenges (Pircher-Friedrich, 2007).

List of topic areas

In this issue, we aim to expand the art and science of writing psychobiographies of business leaders by the adoption of organizational psychology theories, such as:

Motivation, leadership and communication
Organizational behavior theories such as teams, groups and communities, negotiation, decision-making, organizational structure and ethics
Sociological theories such as institutions, agency, in- and out-groups, societal anomy, alienation and others
Business management theories, such as business life cycle, market entry, business models, business ownership, innovation, sustainability, and others
Cross-cultural theories, such as cultural dimensions, cultural adjustment, minorities, immigrants and sojourners and others.

These theories and others could serve as antecedents and explanatory variables of or as consequences or results of business leaders’ behaviors and accomplishments.

The special issue aims to employ psychobiographical methodology to explore the life of business leaders in different professional and business contexts. The editors expect the papers to include the following sections:

Introduction: A justification for the selection of the leader, such as accomplishments and contributions to knowledge, to business and to society. In the case of negative or destructive leadership – the lesson learned.
Literature review: A theoretical framework that will be employed to explore, describe and interpret the leader’s behaviors or the consequences of those behaviors. What are the shortcomings of current theories that call for the need for their refinement by further investigation? Please end with propositions.
Method: The psychobiographical research methodology (e.g., Bulut & Usman, 2021; Elms, 2007; Kőváry, 2011) employed in the study.
Findings: The case – a short description of the psychobiographical subject’s life and contributions.
Discussion: Theoretical implications – potential contribution of the study. What did we learn about theories of business leaders attitudes and behaviors that we did not know before we read the article? Theory could be improved by making it more general (extended to explain new populations) or more specific (including more explanatory or conditional variables that make the theory more focused). Practical implications – what can leaders learn from the study that can enhance their and their organizational performance. For more information please do not hesitate to contact any of the guest editors.

Submissions Information

Submissions are made using ScholarOne Manuscripts. Registration and access are available here.

Author guidelines must be strictly followed. Please see here.

Authors should select (from the drop-down menu) the special issue title at the appropriate step in the submission process, i.e. in response to ““Please select the issue you are submitting to”.

Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication anywhere else, while under review for this journal.