Publications
The research underpinning Children & Leadership Futures has contributed to major international journals, global leadership conferences, and public discourse. Our publications span disciplines including organisational behaviour, developmental psychology, education, and gender studies—advancing understanding of how leadership beliefs are formed in childhood and how they can be reshaped for a more inclusive future.
This growing body of work includes peer-reviewed journal articles, refereed conference papers, and public commentary, and reflects the initiative’s commitment to scholarly excellence, practical impact, and engagement across research, education, and community sectors.
Explore a selection of our publications below.
International Peer-Reviewed Journals
Escobar Vega, C., Billsberry, J., Molineux, J. (2025). Learning What Leadership Is: A Qualitative Study into the Construction of Implicit Leadership Theories in Children. Journal of Constructivist Psychology (in Press). https://doi.org/10.1080/10720537.2025.2541778
Escobar Vega, C., Billsberry, J., Molineux, J., & Lowe, K. B. (2025). The development of implicit leadership theories during childhood: A reconceptualization through the lens of overlapping waves theory. Psychological Review. 132(3), 719-743. https://doi.org/10.1037/rev0000484
Psychological Review
Billsberry, J., Escobar Vega, C., & Molineux, J. (2019). Think of the children: Leader development at the edge of tomorrow. Journal of Management & Organization, 1-4. doi:10.1017/jmo.2019.10
International refereed conference papers
Escobar Vega, C., Billsberry, J., & Molineux, J. (2025). From similar to different: Rethinking gender in the development of children’s Implicit Theories of Leadership.
Conference: Australian & New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM 2025, Geelong, New Zealand.
Akinola, M., Ali, F., Alkhaled, S., Apfelbaum, E. P., Escobar Vega, C., Gündemir, S., Morrison Gutman, L., Hoever, I. J., Ng, E. S., & Rishani, M. (2025). DEI in academia: Exploring cross-institutional insights on challenges and opportunities.
Conference: 85th Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management, Copenhagen, Denmark
Escobar Vega, C., Billsberry, J., & Molineux, J. (2020). The emergence of Implicit
Leadership Theories in children: An empirical study.
Conference: 81st Annual Meeting of the Academy of Management (virtual)
Escobar Vega, C., Billsberry, J., & Molineux, J. (2020). The pre-context of leader development: An empirical study of the emergence of Implicit Leadership Theories in children.
Conference: 5th Interdisciplinary Perspectives on Leadership Symposium, Mykonos, Greece.
Escobar Vega, C., Billsberry, J., & Molineux, J. (2018). On the Implicit Leadership Theories of children.
Conference: Australian & New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM 2018, Auckland, New Zealand.
LinkedIn Articles
Escobar Vega, C., (2025). Faceless Women: The invisible struggle of female political leaders in children’s minds.
Escobar Vega, C., (2022). Goodbye Queen Elizabeth II, goodbye to the only female political leader Australian children recognise.
PhD Thesis (2021)
Understanding the Next Generation of Leaders: An Exploratory Study of Constructions of Leadership During Childhood
Escobar Vega, C. (2021). Supervised by Professor Jon Billsberry and Dr John Molineux, with external advisor Professor Susan Kay Wright.
This doctoral research investigated how children between the ages of 5 and 12 conceptualise leadership, offering rare insight into the early development of Implicit Leadership Theories (ILTs). Conducted with 251 primary school children in Melbourne, the study used child-centred and arts-based methods—including drawing and interviews—to explore how children think about leaders’ traits, behaviours, and roles.
The thesis challenges conventional developmental models by proposing that children’s leadership thinking evolves in overlapping waves, shaped by social and environmental factors—not fixed stages. The work has been widely recognised for its methodological innovation and impact on both leadership and child development fields. It received the Australian & New Zealand Academy of Management ANZAM 2021 Best Doctoral Dissertation Commendation of Merit Award.