Abstract:

Trickle-down model is newly developed approach in leadership areas, which examines how leaders’ behaviors and their cognition trickle-down from upper-level leaders to lower-level followers. By exploring the systematic effects of multilevel leadership, the model fills the gap of prior studies which focus on single-level leadership. It is necessary to systematically summarize the definition, characteristics, theoretical foundations, effects and future research of trickle-down model in leadership areas, which will contribute to integrating leadership and broadening our understanding of Chinese leadership.

Key words: trickle-down model, leadership, multilevel, system