ABSTRACT
Peterson and Sorenson’s chapter, in which they provide a “new look at how cognition may mediate the effects of context on a given person’s leadership” (p. 501), is a valuable contribution to the dialogue about these issues in the study of leadership. Their ambitious review and reinterpretation of the literature concerning the antecedents of leadership integrates a number of variables that traditionally are not combined (e.g., Fiedler, 1967). Further, their model suggests an alternative way to interpret the relationships among contextual contin- gencies and a leader’s behavior. As a stimulus to future research, these authors identify the gaps in the current knowledge about the elements of their model and suggest that the disparate theoretical bases of their reinterpretation require certain compromises and some creative sense making. The implication for future research efforts is challenging.
