Shared tales about the leader -A systematic literature review on the evolution of shared entrepreneurial leadership

Within newly founded ventures, shared leadership marks one of the most prevalent approaches towards leadershipgearing the venture towards increased innovativeness and performance. Shared leadership is especially well suited for dynamic and uncertain environments where innovativeness is key to maintain competitiveness, as it is characteristic for the markets startups are operating in. Despite the central importance of shared leadership in newly founded ventures, a systematic review that conceptualizes how shared leadership unfolds in startups, why it is especially well suited for and highly prevalent in the entrepreneurial context, and how it impacts entrepreneurial innovativeness and performance is missing. Based on a critical analysis of 178 empirical articles, I provide a comprehensive, systematic review of shared entrepreneurial leadership and its impact on innovativeness and performance. By combining insights from interdisciplinary studies, I identify reinforcing feedback loops and self-enforcing cycles between antecedents and outcomes of shared entrepreneurial leadership to explain its effectiveness in fostering innovativeness and performance in newly founded ventures. I provide suggestions to guide future entrepreneurial leadership research and seed conversations for theoretical, methodological, and practical advancements.