The conceptual confusion or ambiguity in defining distributed leadership has also given rise to a
diverse nomenclature being used in the literature, such as democratic leadership (Woods, 2004)
and shared leadership (Pearce and Conger, 2003). These terms are frequently used interchangeably
and uncritically. Hartley (2007: 202) describes this situation as ‘conceptual elasticity’ reflective of
what Lakomski (2008: 160) describes as a case of ‘horses for courses’. Such criticism from
esteemed leadership scholars can in turn thwart theorizing, especially if the goal is to seek consistency
or advancements based on commonalities or similarities. For example, ‘distributed leadership’
and ‘shared leadership’ are often used in the same paper as if they were equal, with the
authors providing no definition or explanation on what is meant by each concept (HammersleyFletcher
and Brundrett, 2008; Lindahl, 2008). The use of these concepts interchangeably creates
confusion in operationalizing definitions in practice and raises difficulties in interpretation when
considering implications of findings based on research studies.