Mayors as local leaders - a systematic literature review on European mayor research

This article presents a systematic literature review on European research on the mayoral model as a local management system. As our research strategy, we utilised the PRISMA guidelines and researcher triangulation. Through multiple screening phases, a total of 73 articles were chosen and included in the final qualitative analysis to create a thematic synthesis on the predominant themes. The research on European mayors was divided into two main categories: the mayoral model as an institutional system and mayoral governance relations. In addition to these main categories, our analysis identified two cross-cutting themes: the reform perspective and the democracy perspective. Our thematic synthesis provides a multidimensional view of the evolution of mayoral models over the past two decades, revealing a common strategy to address various challenges by strengthening the mayor’s role and powers, both institutionally and in leadership capabilities.