Drivers and levels of creative leadership: an examination of choreographers as directive and integrative leaders

Research suggests that when leading creative individuals, leaders are either directive, telling their followers what to do, or integrative, soliciting and incorporating the input of others. However, less is known about what drives creative leadership or what it looks like in context. Using a sample of 20 choreographers we employ a qualitative research methodology to better understand creative leadership. Using pattern coding, we first examine the drivers of directive leadership, and three drivers emerge: perspective, project and preference. Next we unpack integrative leadership, and here three distinct levels emerge: occasional, iterative and continuous. Based on these findings, we propose that future research on creative leadership start to incorporate the views of the leader given our more nuanced take on the drivers of directive leadership and the different levels of integrative leadership.