"Nothing in public administration is more important, interesting, or mysterious than leadership" (Lambright & Quinn, 2011, p. 782). Indeed, we see that a growing body of literature within the public administration/management discipline focuses on leadership among public sector actors (recently, e.g. Jacobsen & Andersen, 2017; Ospina, 2017; Ricard et al., 2017). What is rather neglected in these studies, so far, is that frontline workers may also showcase leadership skills and behaviour. This is illustrated by the fact that the search term 'frontline leadership', for instance, only results in 11 hits within the public administration and political science categories of Web of Science. Whereas plenty of examples of leading frontline workers are present. For instance, two Dutch primary school teachers recently initiated a successful campaign '#primaryeducationinaction' claiming more salary and budget to reduce work pressure. This resulted in national media coverage, a countrywide strike, support from politicians, unions, professional organizations and celebrities and, ultimately, additional salary for Dutch primary school teachers.
Particularly research on street-level bureaucracy has emphasized the crucial importance of frontline workers, such as teachers, police officers and healthcare workers, for the delivery of public services and the implementation of public policies (e.g. Maynard-Moody & Musheno, 2003; Hupe & Hill, 2009, Brodkin, 2012). In delivering these services, frontline workers need to display behaviour that is typically regarded as behaviour of (successful) public leaders. Tummers and Knies (2016), for instance, identify four dimensions of public leadership: accountability, rule-following, political loyalty and network governance leadership. These all apply, in a way, to frontline workers' daily tasks. Secondary school teachers, for instance, have to actively connect with stakeholders, such as parents, social workers or local businesses and police officers – at least to a certain degree – have to align their own, their colleagues' and citizens' actions with policies and politicians' ambitions.
In this study, we will dive deeper into the concept of frontline leadership. This study's main research question is: What is frontline leadership and why and how may it be stimulated? Three main objectives can be derived. Firstly, this study aims to formulate a definition of frontline worker leadership. For instance, frontline leaders are frontline workers who (individually or collectively) apply their status, expertise and (in)formal positions at the organizational, government or societal level in order to improve their daily work situations and strengthen (policy) outcomes for citizens (based on a.o. York-Barr & Duke, 2004). Secondly, it aims to show why it is relevant to acknowledge and study frontline leadership. Thirdly, this study aims to outline how frontline leadership can be stimulated by organizational leaders, public managers and politicians. In order to answer these questions, a systematic review will be conducted.
