A Commentary on Choudhury and Maupin (2025): Revisiting the Downsides of Shared Leadership From a Multilevel and Resource-Oriented Perspective

Choudhury and Maupin (2025) present a framework that highlights the downsides of shared leadership for individual team members (e.g., higher demands, increased burnout). While their framework has the potential to add value to the positively skewed conversation on shared leadership, their theorizing appears selective and overlooks established theoretical and empirical work in the field. This commentary identifies three conceptual issues that warrant reconsideration: (1) the neglect of the multilevel nature of shared leadership, (2) the overlooked role of shared leadership as a team resource, and (3) the omission of formal leadership. To address these limitations, the commentary offers corresponding recommendations to strengthen and extend the framework.