Organizational Ghosts: How “Ghostly Encounters” Enable Former Leaders to Influence Current Organizational Members

Leadership research assumes that leader group prototypicality enhances leadership influence during a leader’s tenure. Other leadership research also assumes that leaders, especially founders, can transform their leadership influence into a legacy that will survive death and departure from the organization and continue to impact followers. However, to understand the historically embedded nature of leadership influence, it is critical to unpack how specific leaders can become group prototypes and influence followers after their departure. We address this opportunity by examining organizational ghosts, former organizational members who become the ideal prototype of an organization’s values and identity. Drawing on qualitative data from an organizational merger, our analysis revealed that admired and adored leaders with broad exposure became embodied organizational prototypes. After organizational exit, they became organizational ghosts, institutionalized by associative learning, perpetuated practices, and physical memory work. When activated—either intentionally or organically—these ghosts had “ghostly encounters” (remembered and imagined) with remaining members that safeguarded the organization, comforted organizational members, and devalued alternative value systems. We introduce the concept of organizational ghosts, explain how leaders can become ghosts, and specify remembered and imagined encounters as mechanisms through which former leaders can have enduring influence in organizations.