Leader Legacy Beliefs and Decision Making

The purpose of this grounded theory study was to explore the perceptions or thinking of legacy held by organizational leaders, and how life experiences shaped the legacy thinking called upon when making decisions (or upon which they base their most difficult decisions).

A total of 52 organizational leaders were interviewed in this study.

A theoretical model was developed from the findings. indicates an emergent theoretical framework for understanding the process in which life experiences shaped the legacy thinking and the values of legacy thinking held by organizational leaders. The framework is characterized by three foci of themes: organizational setting, developmental process of legacy leaders, and values of legacy leaders. The framework sheds light on the thinking of legacy held by organizational leaders, and how life experiences shaped the legacy thinking. The major components of the theoretical model are described, in detail, in the following sections.