Examining the impact of servant leadership on employee job and innovation performance in the public sector

This study employs an important theory of leadership, servant leadership theory, to analyse impact of leadership on employee job and innovation performance. By doing so, it: 1) responds to calls that more investigation of... [ view full abstract ]

This study employs an important theory of leadership, servant leadership theory, to analyse impact of leadership on employee job and innovation performance. By doing so, it: 1) responds to calls that more investigation of servant leadership within public sector organizations is needed; 2) contributes to the public management field examining relationships between leadership and performance; and 3) moves beyond public management studies by analysing supervisor-rated scores on both innovation and job performance instead of for instance innovative intentions. This study examines linkages with data from two surveys of 2,144 employees and 132 supervisors working in a large Dutch public service organization. Results indicate that strong empowering leadership – a core dimension of servant leadership – is important for fostering both employee job and innovation performance. Directions for future research are suggested.