Strategic leadership in a non-WEIRD context: An integrative review of strategic leaders in China

Research on Upper Echelons (UE) theory and strategic leadership (SL) has grown substantially. Yet, much of this work remains confined to Western contexts, leaving a gap in understanding how UE theory and SL unfold in non-WEIRD settings—those that are not Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic. To address this gap, we focus on China, a non-WEIRD context that contrasts sharply with prevailing Western approaches. Drawing on 273 studies, we develop a contextualized strategic leadership framework that advances understanding of the what , how , when , and why of SL in China. To address the what of SL, we introduce a typology of constructs with China-related salience (attributes that gain salience in China), China-related meaning (attributes that acquire additional nuance), and China-related content (attributes shaped by context). We examine the how and when by highlighting China-related contingencies. We assess how primary studies addressed endogeneity, finding that nearly three-fourths engaged with this issue, with considerable variation in their extensiveness. Our study offers several contributions. First, it provides the first contextually integrated SL review that places the national context at the forefront. Second, it extends SL research beyond a Western-centric lens. Finally, it contributes to broader leadership research by responding to calls for greater consideration of context in leadership studies.