Purpose/SignificanceShared leadership, as a process in which team members interact to achieve common goals, has been widely recognized for its role and value.However, there is no sorting out the formation factors and application evolution of shared leadershipso far.

Method/ProcessStarting from the concept development of shared leadership, this paper summarizes the organizational context of the emergence of shared leadership. On this basis, the paper reveals the action characteristics of shared leadership in organizations from the perspective of application.

Result/ConclusionThe analysis finds that the organizational context of emergence of shared leadership includes organizational and team factors, in which organizational factors cover internal organizational structure, task characteristics and organizational support context; while team factors cover team characteristics, shared vision and vertical leadership. On the other hand, the application of shared leadership in organizations shows the evolution characteristics from "co-governance" in public organizations to "beneficial wealth" in profit organizations. Finally, the paper puts forward the research direction of shared leadership emergence in the future.