Personal and professional leadership in a government agency

Abstract

Purpose

The aim of this paper is to replicate previous research findings, exploring the mediating effect of personal leadership on professional leadership and willing cooperation, and to extend the leadership model to include job satisfaction and organizational commitment.

Design/methodology/approach

Employees from a government agency located in Western New York State completed a survey designed to gather their perceptions of study variables.

Findings

Professional and personal leadership are positively related to all three outcomes and personal leadership mediates the effect of professional leadership on all three outcomes.

Research limitations/implications

Limitations include predictor and outcome data both collected from the same respondents and all measures collected via survey. Both of these issues raise concerns with regards to common method bias. Actual performance data were not measured. Future research should examine the impact of leadership behaviors on organization outcomes.

Practical implications

Managers should focus on developing both professional leadership (i.e. providing direction, process, and coordination to members) and personal leadership (i.e. demonstrating expertise, trust, caring, sharing and morals) behaviors to enhance employee satisfaction and commitment.

Originality/value

The paper provides confirmatory evidence for the value of the leadership model put forth in the earlier research and extends the model to include other important outcomes. An examination of leader behaviors in a government agency uncovers ways managers can enhance their leadership behaviors.

Citation

Eddy, E.R., Lorenzet, S.J. and Mastrangelo, A. (2008), "Personal and professional leadership in a government agency", Leadership & Organization Development Journal, Vol. 29 No. 5, pp. 412-426. https://doi.org/10.1108/01437730810887021