Reverse the Lenses, set Focus on Follower: Resource Dependence & Bottom-up Leadership

A plethora of leadership theories explain the top-down influence process – how manager leads employees. Instead, recent emergent leadership identity and followership theories call for scholarly attention on the bottom- up influence process – how employee influences manager. This paper develops theory of upward influence and leadership construction taking resource dependence lens. Unlike prior assumptions that managers solely possess resources needed by an employee, I articulate that employee also possess resources that are needed by manager. Dependence relationships – power imbalance and embedded, thus, emerge as employee and manager both depend on each other for tangible and intangible resources. I further explain the leadership construction process in power imbalance and embedded relationships between an employee and a manager, and elaborate on the contingencies – organizational and team structures.