Principal social justice leadership: A systematic review of 20 years of research, 2005–2024

In recent years, principal social justice leadership (PSJL) has received increasing attention in the field of education. Through a systematic review of 133 theoretical and empirical journal articles on PSJL, this article identifies the current research landscape and shifts in the definition of PSJL, key themes, major methods, and contextual coverage over the past two decades. To this end, the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses statement was applied to peer-reviewed papers available on two databases: Web of Science and Scopus. This study found the following: (1) the definition of PSJL has been constructed in different contexts, resulting in a lack of consensus; (2) the focal themes of PSJL have changed over stages; (3) the predominant research method has been qualitative, with an increasing use of quantitative methods in recent years; and (4) the contextual coverage expanded from the United States to other parts of the world. Despite the promising growth of the research on PSJL, limitations include insufficient cross-national studies, small-scale data, traditional methods, and few widely applied measurement tools. This review highlights the urgent need to promote social justice-oriented leadership policies in diverse educational settings and include social justice leadership as a core competency in principal preparation programs and leadership practices.