Monica•Liu
Reading Summary
Followership: The theoretical foundation of a contemporary construct by Susan D. Baker

The author Susan D. Baker of the article Followership: The theoretical foundation of a contemporary construct introduces the theoretical foundation of followership and gives a result of why leadership rather than followership is emphasized. She proves the points of the article by the following aspects: identifying the antecedents from which followership theory developed, naming early followership theorists and researchers and discussing their work, and identifying the common themes in their work. This article provides the missing foundation in contemporary discussion of the followership construct, because the author found that there were 6 followership survey instruments have been used in approximately 20 published different field studies, and these studies need to be assessed for their effectiveness and dedications to the field of followership. The findings from that assessment could provide a common base of understanding that could inform future research. In the beginning part of the article, the author looks back across a century of followership theory and introduces the origins about followership, and mentions that there is so much emphasis on leadership but little on followership. The article states that “the Great Men had their followers, troops, or devotees who followed in their footsteps, obeyed their directives, and faithfully mimicked their actions.” So the author examines the question about “why is the focus on leaders rather than followers?” in three aspects: Heroic leader, idealized leader overshadows followers and now social change affects followers. In the second section, the author analyzes moving to a view of active followers in three parts: the early voices of active followership theory, theoretical antecedents to