The position of Chief Learning Officer (CLO) is relatively new in
business organizations, and little research has been conducted on this
function. With the global proliferation of knowledge, the CLO assumes
increasing importance for organizational success. This quantitative
study explored CLOs' leadership styles and participation in strategic
learning decision making. The study purpose was to determine whether
significant relationships existed between learning executives'
leadership styles, their participation in strategic learning decisions,
and salient demographic factors. A cross-sectional survey design was
used to test seven hypotheses with learning executives from U.S.
companies. A significant relationship was found between CLOs' leadership
styles and participation in strategic decision making, with
statistically significant p values for transactional leadership
(.034423) and laissez-faire leadership (-.18274).