PurposeThis paper aims to provide a comprehensive, structured, objective bibliometric review of the main leadership styles investigated in the hospitality industry from 1977 to 2021 (September) and depicts this field’s conceptual structure.Design/methodology/approachBibliometric analysis techniques such as bibliographic coupling were used using several software applications (VOSviewer, BibExcel and Pajek, among others) to identify trends and research gaps in this literature. The paper provides an overview of the evolution of research activity on different leadership styles that yields important insights into research trends, most-researched themes, main authors and key journals.FindingsA total of 287 publications on leadership from the Web of Science and Scopus databases were summarized. The number of studies on leadership has been growing since 2013, evincing persistent interest in the topic. Eleven main streams of leadership research in the hospitality literature were detected and characterized, with transformational and servant leadership emerging as the most common approaches. Possible evolution of the topics and future research lines were also identified.Research limitations/implicationsThe findings can guide practitioners and scholars to further explore and implement emerging leadership styles in the hospitality sector. The paper also presents future research avenues to advance the field of leadership.Originality/valueThe current review provides a valuable framework for examining key leadership styles, understanding the most-researched styles and illustrating leadership's critical role in organizational and individual outcomes in hospitality businesses.