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By investing in the development of foundational leadership behaviours, rather than leadership 'styles', employers can "cultivate leadership that is both impactful and consistent with their strategic goals", the Australian authors of a global study say.

Monash Business School associate professors Nathan Eva and Joshua Howard, who authored the study, say an isolationist approach has led researchers to mostly ignore similarities between "supposedly different" leadership styles.

Across seven samples, five countries, multiple organisational contexts, and 4,000 respondents, they found substantial overlaps between many of the measures they used to assess "conceptually distinct leadership styles".

"In the name of progress," they say, whenever a new leadership style is introduced, many in the field have "turned a blind eye" to possible overlap...