Abstract:

This paper develops the concept of silent leadership as a culturally and ethically situated form of women’s power within the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) contexts. Dominant leadership and followership theories continue to privilege visibility, assertiveness, and voice as markers of leadership effectiveness, implicitly framing silence as disengagement or powerlessness. Such assumptions obscure how leadership is enacted in sociocultural contexts where modesty, relational harmony, and moral legitimacy are valued, and where overt authority may undermine rather than enable influence, particularly for women. Drawing on a systematic narrative literature review of scholarship published between 1988 and 2025, this paper integrates anti-heroic leadership, voice and silence studies, and Islamic feminist theory to reconceptualise silence as an active, relational, and ethically grounded leadership practice. Islamic feminism is mobilised as a theoretical lens that reframes agency, legitimacy, and authority within moral and ethical traditions, thereby clarifying how influence becomes recognisable to followers without overt voice or positional power. The paper proposes a process model of silent leadership comprising⁠ antecedents (cultural norms, gendered hierarchies‍,‍ and religious ethical narratives), processes (strategic silence, relational discretion, and hybrid identity work), and outcomes (legitimacy, discreet influence, and the‍ persistent risk of invisibility). By foregrounding the leadership-followership interface and therising silence as a culturally legitimate mechanism of influence, this study extends leadership‍ theory beyond heroic and voice-centric paradigms. This study seeks to cont‍r‌ibute to leadership and fol⁠lowership debate‌s on po⁠wer, recognition, and legitimacy in culturally div‌ers‍e organisati‍onal co‍ntexts.

Please choose your submission type: Developmental Paper

Primary Track: Leadership and Leadership Development

Keywords: Women and leadership;Psychodynamic approach to leadership;Cross-cultural studies of leadership;Strategic leadership;Emerging leadership theories

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Mrs. Mai AlKhalifa