Understanding Public Sector Leadership Effectiveness: Do Multiple Perspectives Matter?

Abstract

Employing a multisource assessment methodology using the Leadership Code instrument, this study explores which leadership dimensions predict leadership effectiveness across different rating sources in a public sector organisation. The findings of this study suggest that different rating sources do indeed differentially value different leadership competencies. Competencies and behaviours relating to strategy were more important for supervisors’ assessments of leadership effectiveness, the ability to get things done and achieve tasks and objectives (i.e. competencies relating to the executor domain) were most important for self and direct report assessment of leadership effectiveness while competencies related to personal proficiency predicted peer assessments of leadership effectiveness. Further, two prominent forms of rating bias (halo and leniency) were explored across the four rating sources. The implications of the findings for public sector leadership, performance management, and human resource develo...