Beyond Black and White – Shades of Grey Leadership

Call for Papers

Beyond Black and White – Shades of Grey Leadership

Journal Leadership & Organization Development Journal

Publisher Emerald Publishing

Submission Deadline 30 September 2026

About this Special Issue
This special issue aims to advance critical scholarship on leadership by moving beyond the simplistic “good vs bad” dichotomy. It focuses on “grey leadership”—the ambiguous, contested, and relational practices that fall between clearly constructive and overtly destructive leadership. These behaviours may not fit neatly into labels such as “toxic,” “abusive,” or “destructive” leadership, yet they significantly shape everyday organisational life.

Grey leadership includes subtle rule‑bending, strategic inaction, tolerance of harmful dynamics, and follower‑collusion in ambiguous conduct. Such practices often escape public attention or formal sanctions, yet carry relational and organisational costs. Grey leadership is characterised by mixed ethical intent, inconsistent moral signalling, and situationally contingent consequences—behaviours that can yield both positive and negative outcomes depending on context and interpretation.

This issue invites conceptual, empirical, and case‑based work that explores grey leadership as a dynamic moral ecology, where ethical, emotional, and practical contradictions intertwine in everyday leadership practice.

Scope & Theme Areas
Submissions are invited on, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Conceptual development of grey leadership

  • Definitional clarity: What is grey leadership?

  • Theoretical and typological work on the grey leadership continuum.

  • How grey leadership relates to ethical, ambivalent, paradoxical, and “dark” leadership.

• Perspectives on grey leadership

  • How grey leadership is enacted and sustained in organisations.

  • The role of context, culture, and power in shaping grey leadership practices.

  • Whether ambiguity can serve constructive purposes in leadership.

• Grey leadership practices

  • How grey leadership materialises in the workplace and its implications for followers, leaders, organisations, and society.

  • Case studies or in‑depth organisational studies of grey leadership episodes.

• Leading in the shadows

  • The ambiguities and risks of “leading in the shadows.”

  • When and why grey leadership might be perceived as beneficial or necessary.

• The role of HR and organisational systems

  • How HR practices, performance systems, and governance structures enable or challenge grey leadership.

  • The continuum from grey leadership to black / bad leadership.

  • Is grey leadership simply “dark leadership in disguise”?

• Dealing with grey leadership

  • How to recognise, challenge, and mitigate grey leadership practices.

  • Strategies to prevent grey leadership from sliding towards overtly destructive forms.

Guest Editors

• Anders Örtenblad, School of Business and Law, University of Agder, Norway

• Louise Boulter, Lincoln Bishop University, Business and Enterprise, United Kingdom

• Nilupulee (Nelly) Liyanagamage, School of Business, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Wollongong, Australia

• Horia Moașa, Department of Social and Communication Sciences, Transilvania University of Brașov, Romania

Key Dates

Submission Guidelines

• Manuscripts must be submitted via ScholarOne Manuscripts using the Leadership & Organization Development Journal submission portal.

• During submission, please select the special issue title “Beyond Black and White – Shades of Grey Leadership” from the dropdown menu under “Please select the issue you are submitting to.”

• Articles must be original, not previously published, and not under consideration for publication elsewhere while under review for this journal.

• Authors must strictly follow the author guidelines of the Leadership & Organization Development Journal, available on the journal’s Emerald page.

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