A Literature Review on Executive Coaching

Purpose – Executive coaching has become gradually a more common method for skill development. However, few rigorous empirical studies have tested its capacity to generate outcomes. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the links between executive coaching and self-efficacy in regard to executive-coaching behaviours. Design/methodology/approach – The articles which have been published in selected peer-reviewed international journals in the recent years were collected by using databases researchgate.net and proquest. The articles were scrutinised based on authors’ perspective analysis on executive coaching. The paper is divided into three sections. The first sections review the state of research over the background of executive coaching, with a greater focus on the past decade when coaching research has accelerated at warp speed, second section of the paper deals with empirical studies on executive coaching and third section deals with executive coaching and self-efficacy. Findings – Results indicate that- after controlling for pre-training self-efficacy and other training methods, the number of coaching sessions has a positive and significant relationship with post-training self-efficacy. Results also show that utility judgment, affective organisational commitment and work environment support have each a positive and significant relationship with post-training self-efficacy. Practical implications – The paper first suggests that an organisation that wishes to improve its return on investment with regard to coaching should implement a programme with multiple sessions spreading over a period of several months. This paper also suggests that organisations should consider coaching from a systemic point of view that is, taking into account not only the design but also individual and situational variables. Originality/value – The paper is an evaluation report in the domain of executive coaching and provides insight for the research opportunities in the area. Research limitations – The insights deduced in the paper are primarily based on research articles selected for critical review and analysis in the domain of executive coaching interpreted only as key concerns in the area.