A Bibliometric Analysis of Leadership Styles in Healthcare: Trends, Impact, and Research Networks

Leadership within the healthcare sector plays a pivotal role in shaping institutional performance, employee engagement, and patient satisfaction.Over time, leadership paradigms have evolved from traditional to contemporary models, incorporating diverse styles such as transformational, transactional, authentic, democratic, and charismatic leadership.This study conducts a comprehensive bibliometric analysis of scholarly research on leadership styles in healthcare, employing VOSviewer for visualizing research networks and mapping key relationships.A total of 889 journal articles published between 1957 and 2024 were retrieved from the Scopus database and analyzed.A notable upward trend in publication volume has been observed, particularly post-2008, highlighting the growing academic interest in this domain.Citation analysis has identified the most frequently cited studies, prolific authors, and leading countries contributing to this field, alongside the academic disciplines exerting significant influence.Furthermore, bibliometric maps have been generated to elucidate co-citation relationships, source distributions, and national research productivity, as well as author collaboration networks and text-based thematic clusters.The findings provide a structured overview of scholarly discourse on leadership in healthcare, offering valuable insights into prevailing research trajectories and identifying potential directions for future investigations.By synthesizing the bibliometric landscape, this study aims to enhance the theoretical and empirical understanding of leadership within healthcare services.