Leadership In Public Organizations Research Articles

Understanding transversal leadership in public organizations: conceptualization and development of a measurement scale

ABSTRACT Public value creation often relies on collective efforts across organizational jurisdictions with leadership playing a central role. However, concepts and measures for understanding whether and how public leaders can influence their own employees to engage in behaviours that support work across organizational boundaries are lacking. As response, the authors propose transversal leadership, which refers to a leader’s attempts to direct, align, and commit staff towards collective efforts with actors outside their own managerial jurisdiction, and develop a useful, valid, and reliable measurement scale that discriminates from existing leadership measures and correlates with expected outcomes.

The Role of Ambidextrous Leadership in Public Organizations in Palu City

The Role of Ambidextrous Leadership in Public Organizations in Palu City

Untangling Challenges and Opportunities: Overcoming Toxic Leadership in Public Organizations in Donggala Regency

Untangling Challenges and Opportunities: Overcoming Toxic Leadership in Public Organizations in Donggala Regency

Bibliometric Analysis of the Role of Leadership in Public Organizations using VosViewer

The ever-intensifying global competition necessitates strong leadership, particularly within public organizations. Leaders must not only possess a profound understanding of complex global issues but also demonstrate the agility to navigate them. This necessitates continuous improvement of leadership knowledge and its practical application across various domains. This study employs a bibliometric analysis using Vosviewer software to examine the role of leadership in public organizations. The analysis focuses on 413 relevant journal articles published within a ten-year timeframe, ranging from 2013 to 2022. The results reveal nine distinct clusters of research themes, offering a comprehensive landscape of contemporary leadership scholarship in the public sector. Notably, the analysis identifies a relative scarcity of research on "ionic leadership." To equip future public sector leaders with a multifaceted understanding of leadership styles and their effectiveness, further investigation into diverse leadership approaches and their impact within public organizations is crucial. By delving deeper into the nuances of leadership within this complex environment, this research aims to contribute valuable insights for both leadership development and effective public service delivery. Additionally, this study can serve as a springboard for future research that explores under-investigated leadership styles, such as "ionic leadership," and their potential to enhance public service effectiveness.

Joining in With Leadership? A Survey of Leadership Behaviour and Identity of Non-Managerial Employees in Public Organizations

Although non-managerial employees are increasingly seen as valuable sources of leadership in public organizations, their leadership behavior is rarely studied. This study zooms in on the leadership behavior of non-managerial employees and assesses whether leadership identity and previous experience in formal leadership positions affect their engagement in leadership. According to identity theory, seeing oneself as a leader may be a crucial component in behaving as one. Survey data collected among public servants ( n = 976) in The Netherlands show that non-managerial employees with a more central leadership identity use all types of leadership behavior from the repertoire more often, which can partially be explained by their experience. This demonstrates that leadership identity is a meaningful lens to explain why this group engages in leadership behavior. Leadership development can be stimulated by helping non-managerial employees identify with a leadership role.

Digital Leadership In Managing Public Organization Indonesia

The development of information and communication technology (ICT) has brought fundamental changes in the world of public organizations. This study aims to analyze the role and impact of digital leadership in managing public organizations in the digital era. The research method used is a qualitative approach using case studies from several public organizations that have implemented digital leadership. Data was collected through in-depth interviews with government officials, managers and staff of organizations involved in digital transformation. The results of the study show that digital leadership functions as a catalyst in facing the challenges of rapid change in the digital era. Digital leadership encourages public organizations to adopt and apply relevant information technologies, and enhance digital skills and literacy at all levels. In addition, digital leadership also creates a culture of innovation and collaboration within public organizations. The digital leader encourages the active participation of staff and members of the organization in creating technology-based solutions to improve the quality of public services and operational efficiency. During the digital transformation process, digital leadership also focuses on managing change and overcoming emerging obstacles. Digital leaders have an important role to play in unifying the vision and building commitment to digital transformation, as well as helping to overcome resistance from those who are less familiar with new technologies. However, this research also identifies several challenges in implementing digital leadership in public organizations. Some of these are the lack of adequate resources and budget, and the need to address concerns regarding data security and privacy. In conclusion, digital leadership has proven itself as a key factor in managing public organizations in the digital era. Digital transformation led by digital leaders brings positive changes in efficiency, transparency and citizen participation in public services. To address these challenges, governments and public organizations need to invest in human resource training and development, and design policies and strategies that support technological innovation and adaptation to achieve success in digital leadership.

Unraveling Determinants of Inclusive Leadership in Public Organizations

The aim of this article is to unravel the determinants of inclusive leadership by combining mixed methods in two phases to explore and test theoretically grounded personal and organizational antecedents of inclusive leadership. The first qualitative phase used semi-structured interviews with public managers, while the second quantitative phase tested assumptions using survey data from employees working in the Dutch public sector. The findings support the hypothesized positive association of leader humility as well as a flexible culture on inclusive leadership. Public managers also tend to have, both social justice and business case arguments for diversity, affecting their inclusive leadership. Motivation and discretionary room enable public managers to cope with structural constrains. Top management support is important to change organizational culture and norms, motivating and stimulating lower level managers to actively show inclusive leadership. Overall, the findings contribute to a better understanding of inclusive leadership in a public sector context.

Competence in virtual communication: Remote transformational leadership

AbstractThis paper seeks to evaluate how researched communication methods from within transformational leadership theory can contribute to the overall effectiveness of leader and organizational performance within remote working environments. A review of existing literature within the scope of research will aim to uncover if the four established elements of communication (oral, written, listening, and nonverbal), as defined by the Van Wart text Leadership in Public Organizations, remain efficient in transformational leadership theory, or if methods must be expanded upon when looking toward the future. With the onset of the COVID‐19 global pandemic in 2020, it is theorized that a modern‐day addition to the communications mix is needed to endure contemporary events impacting leadership performance and rapidly changing organizations across the world.

The Influence of Participative Leadership on the Voice Behavior of Public Servants

Determining how to stimulate public employees’ voice behaviors has become a critical issue in both theory and practice. This article draws on the theories of participative management, leadership, role theory, and social identity theory and proposes a moderated mediation model to explore the mechanism by which participative leadership shapes public employees’ voice behaviors. To test this study’s hypotheses, we conduct a three-wave investigation of 739 public tax agency employees in the Yangtze River Delta area of China. The results show that participative leadership significantly predicts employees’ voice behaviors by enhancing their organizational identification. Furthermore, power distance moderates the relationship between participative leadership and organizational identification. These findings advance our understanding of how to motivate employees’ voice behaviors from the perspective of participative leadership in public organizations.

The tripod of trust: a multilevel approach to trust-based leadership in public organizations

ABSTRACT Trust-based leadership is receiving attention in the public sector as a pathway to increased cooperation and effectiveness. However, existing empirical studies of trust-based leadership tend to engage a mono-level focus of trust and lack sufficient insight into the dynamics between different dimensions and levels of trust in the public organization. This article contributes by exploring a successful case of trust-based leadership in a Danish municipal job centre. The study develops a multilevel approach to trust-based leadership, providing insight into how public leaders may engage and combine institutional and interactional remedies to facilitate trust-building at the individual, team and organizational levels.

Professional Development Leadership in Public Organizations: A Refined Conceptualization

Professional development leadership (PDL) can potentially align organizational goals and professional norms, thereby increasing the performance of professional employees in public organizations. Public management research has largely overlooked this type of leadership behavior, however, which may be due to the fact that it remains conceptually under-developed. This article presents a refined conceptualization of PDL based on theorizing and the abductive analysis of 31 interviews with managers and professionals in public organizations. The ambition of PDL is to facilitate a shared understanding of professional quality within the scope of organizational goals and to influence others to realize this understanding in practice. Core behaviors are attempts to create alignment between organizational goals and professional norms, to develop professional knowledge, and to activate professional knowledge and norms in practice. The conceptualization comprises a steppingstone for systematic research on PDL, and public managers may find inspiration as to how they can address professional norms and knowledge in their leadership practice.

Room for leadership? A comparison of perceived managerial job autonomy in public, private and hybrid organizations

The study contributes to our knowledge of leadership in public organizations on three specific areas. First, it is a unique exploration of whether managers in publicly owned organizations perceive less job autonomy than managers in privately owned and hybrid organizations. Hybrid organizations are defined in two categories: shareholder companies with both public and private owners, and public companies (organizations selling their products or services, but publicly owned). Second, the study investigates possible mechanisms - more specifically formalization and professionalization - through which organizational ownership (public, private, and hybrid) is assumed to affect managerial autonomy. Finally, the study incorporates important confounding variables – first and foremost size (number of employees), task (technology), and hierarchical level - missing from many other comparisons of public and private organizations. The main findings support the notion that perceived managerial autonomy in publicly owned organizations is lower than in both hybrid and private organization. These differences are not, however, explained by differences in formalization and professionalization.

Ethical Perception of Leadership and Responsible Behavior: An Exploratory Study of Leaders of Public Organizations in Iraq

The study aimed to identify the effect of the ethical perception of a sample of managers in public organizations on responsible behavior in light of the rapid changes taking place in the external environment. To achieve this, the researcher followed the descriptive analytical approach by applying a questionnaire of two parts. The first part dealt with the ethical perception according to the scale of Johnson (2015), which consisted of (22) items. The second part dealt with measuring responsible behavior, which consisted of (20) items based on the scale of Development of Ethical Behavior (Narvaez, 2006) for a sample of (125) respondents randomly chosen. The results showed that the estimation degree of managers in public governmental organizations of the level of ethical perception was average with arithmetic mean (3.26) and standard deviation (1.44). Moreover, the level of responsible behavior was average with arithmetic mean (3.19) and standard deviation (1.24). The results revealed a direct statistically significant relationship between the estimation degree of managers of the level of ethical perception and that for the level of responsible behavior, as the correlation coefficient reached (0.413). They also demonstrated statistically significant differences between the average scores of managers' estimation of the level of ethical perception attributable to the personal (demographic) variables. The study recommended that the priorities of the general agenda should focus on developing ethical perceptions of leadership in public organizations, which contributes to building and promoting responsible behavior in various directions.

Professional development leadership in public organizations: A multi-level study of causes and consequences among head nurses and nurses

Professional development leadership is defined by the core ambition to facilitate a shared understanding of professional quality in an organizational unit and realizing it in the service delivery. The core behaviors are defined by attempts to create alignment between organizational goals and professional norms, develop professional knowledge, and activate professional norms and knowledge in practice. A multi-level study of head nurses and nurses at Danish hospital wards shows that head nurses’ execution of professional development leadership is positively related to nurses’ assessments of professional quality. In addition, head nurses’ span of control, their perceptions of the span of control, and their leadership identity are related to nurses’ perceptions of their head nurses’ exercise of professional development leadership. The results indicate that professional development leadership is relevant in public organizations, and that both organizational and leader characteristics may influence whether leaders succeed in exerting professional development leadership that their employees see.

How to Fuel Public Employees’ Change-Oriented Organizational Citizenship Behavior: A Two-Wave Moderated Mediation Study

Determining how to stimulate public employees’ change-oriented organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) has become a critical issue in both theory and practice. This article draws on the theories of job demands-resources (JD-R), leadership, and public service motivation (PSM) to propose a moderated mediation model to explore how empowering leadership shapes public employees’ change-oriented OCB. We conducted a two-wave investigation of 267 public employees in a large metropolitan city in Northern China to test this study’s hypotheses. The results show that empowering leadership significantly predicts employees’ change-oriented OCB by enhancing job crafting. Furthermore, PSM moderates the relationship between empowering leadership and job crafting. These findings advance our understanding of how to motivate employees’ change-oriented OCB from the perspective of empowering leadership in public organizations.

Leadership Behavior Repertoire: An Exploratory Study of the Concept and Its Potential for Understanding Leadership in Public Organizations

AbstractRapidly accumulating literature on public leadership tends to zoom in on specific aspects of leaders’ behavior. Such a fragmented approach may overlook the most challenging aspect of effective leadership: combining diverse behaviors in relation to various stakeholders to match contextual needs. This article therefore argues for a comprehensive approach that recognizes the behavioral complexity of most contemporary leaders, particularly in ambiguous contexts. The concept of leadership behavior repertoire facilitates this. The article conceptualizes the perspective of the leadership behavior repertoire and illustrates in which ways leaders combine behavioral options from their repertoire using data from in-depth interviews with public leaders. Based on our findings, we propose integration of this perspective into the field’s research agenda to make our understanding of leadership in public organizations more complete. Moreover, the repertoire perspective can challenge and advance theorizing of leadership in relation to its context and outcomes in a more comprehensive way.

Assessment of the Leadership Styles in Public Organizations: an Analysis of Public Employees Perception

How do public employees evaluate leaders in public organizations? Public Organization literature has applied the Transformational Leadership framework to analyze the styles of leadership and its impact on public organization. However, few studies have been conducted regarding the evaluation of the styles of leadership in public organizations, and specifically, the evaluation carried out by the public employees. The purpose of this paper is to fill the gap in the literature, analyzing the factors that explain how employees evaluate leadership styles in the context of public organizations, through the analysis of Federal Employment View (FEV) survey applied in 2018.

Beyond the tipping point: the curvilinear relationships of transformational leadership, leader–member exchange, and emotional exhaustion in the French police

ABSTRACT As one promise of transformational leadership (TFL), it inspires public servants to perform beyond expectations and embrace needed change. However, it remains unclear whether TFL is linked to reduced stress and exhaustion or whether ‘performance beyond expectations’ comes at the expense of followers’ increased stress. In line with the ‘too-much-of-a-good-thing’ effect, this article contributes to our understanding of leadership in public organizations by investigating the curvilinear effect of TFL on emotional exhaustion through interpersonal relationships with the leader (LMX). The results based on a two-wave study of 806 French police officers support the expectation of a curvilinear relationship.

Intersectionality in Public Leadership Research: A Review and Future Research Agenda

Intersectionality provides a critical analytic lens for expanding our knowledge of leadership in public organizations as well as highlighting barriers to leadership opportunities. By emphasizing multiple and simultaneous dimensions of social inequality—most commonly gender, race, class, and sexuality—intersectionality reveals the unique experiences of individuals who occupy multiple marginalized social categories. We reviewed literature on public leadership spanning the past 25 years to obtain a sense of whether and how scholars in public administration currently interpret and apply an intersectional perspective to leadership inquiries. We find that a majority of the research we reviewed relied upon a single dimension of social inequality—gender. We identify the contributions made by research that did apply intersectionality’s core concepts as well as the missed opportunities by neglecting it as an analytic tool. We conclude with an agenda for future research that includes a discussion of intersectionality’s methodological challenges and recommendations for overcoming those challenges.

Effective Leadership in Public Organizations: The Impact of Organizational Structure in Asian Countries

Among public organizations, does variation in organizational structure explain variation in public managers` leadership styles (e.g., transformational and transactional leadership)? The study of leadership in public organizations is increasingly an area of scholarly interest partly sparked by movements to reform public organizations, particularly in the context of emergency management. There is, for example, a need for effective leadership that can help organizations respond to disasters (Kapucu et al. 2010; Van Wart and Kapucu 2011; Stern 2013). There are numerous documented cases where the lack of leadership skills has been linked to major social and economic losses as a result of poor disaster response (e.g., Hurricane Katrina in the U.S.). Yet, leadership is a complex concept and numerous theoretical frameworks have been developed to help explain it (Van Wart 2005). Practically speaking, the existence of different theories of leadership suggests that public managers can decide to exercise various styles of leadership. The style of leadership that a public manager exhibits matters because some styles are perceived to be more effective than others (Trottier et al. 2008). While the effects of leadership have been extensively studied, antecedents or predictors of leadership style have received little scholarly attention (Wright and Pandey 2009; Nielsen and Cleal 2011). The purpose of this research note then is to explore the potential causal relationship between the structure of an organization and the ability of a public manager to exercise transformational leadership in the context of emergency management in two Asian countries: South Korea and Japan. This research note consists of three main sections. The following section explores the relationship between leadership and organizational structure. The second section examines how certain concepts of leadership and organizational structure were applied in two case studies of disaster response. The final section presents some directions for future research.