The promise of action research for leadership in organisations: a systematic literature review and future agenda

Abstract Despite significant concerns surrounding the theory-practice gap in the leadership in organisation (LiO) domain, action research (AR) holds the potential to bridge this divide. This study aims to systematically review existing LiO with AR studies to deliver a comprehensive overview, consolidate fragmented insights, evaluate research quality, and identify opportunities for future development. Following the systematic review protocol by Tranfield et al. (2003), we meticulously reviewed 30 LiO with AR studies published in Scopus and Web of Science (WoS) databases from 2013 to 2022. We also evaluated each study against rigour and relevance criteria to determine the quality of AR implementation. The findings reveal that different organisational contexts underlie varied LiO topics and purposes. Also, diverse AR designs emerged in the reviewed studies, indicating heterogeneity in AR implementation. Additionally, various qualities of AR designs were identified and then mapped into four categories: puerile, popularity, pedantic, and transformative. Moreover, this study offers theoretical implications for rethinking, designing, and evaluating AR, methodological implications to guide and report AR implementation, and practical contributions to fostering collaborative enquiry.