ABSTRACT
Traditional theories of leadership have emphasized the attributes and behaviors of leaders, the quality of relationships between leaders and followers (e.g., leader-member exchange or LMX), the potential infl uences that leaders have on followers as well as environmental contexts; however, relatively few theories have focused on the cognitive structures and processes underlying leadership. An examination of leader cognition and information processing helps answer questions such as why a leader uses certain behaviors in certain situations and how a leader thinks.
