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This study aims to develop and test a model of the antecedents, mediators and consequences of the glass cliff phenomenon through public sector service organizations in Iran to explore more insights on gender inequality in managerial positions.

The current research was conducted based on a mixed-method approach, using both qualitative and quantitative research designs. First, the qualitative method includes content analysis by conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 university professors and expert managers working in public sector service organizations in Iran. The outcomes of the qualitative phase lead to designing the conceptual framework and research hypothesis. Then, through a quantitative phase, 384 female managers working in public sector service organizations in Iran are selected using stratified random sampling and fill out the research questionnaire. The exploratory factor analysis was used to verify the model. Moreover, structural equation modeling, using AMOS 24, was used to test the research hypothesis.

The findings of the qualitative phase were represented in three categories including antecedents (e.g. the characteristics of women’s leadership, the selection of women based on meritocracy criteria, women’s preferences and organizational factors), mediation effect (e.g. succession planning, personal development planning and support networks) and consequences of the glass cliff phenomenon (e.g. positive and negative consequences). The results of the exploratory factor analysis show there are ten components, explaining 88.5% of variances. Moreover, the test of the structural model supports the direct effect of antecedents on the glass cliff phenomenon. The results also show the effect of the glass cliff phenomenon on consequences through mediation effects.

There are some limitations that can be addressed by other researchers. Accordingly, the limited number of female managers in Iran prevented larger quantitative research. Moreover, the current research only found casual and mediation consequences of the glass cliff phenomenon, and potential moderators were not considered in this study.

The present study’s innovations may include using a mixed-method approach to investigate the antecedents, mediators and consequences of the glass cliff phenomenon in this study and examining the model constructs in some public sector service organizations. This research may provide a deep understanding of the antecedents, mediators and consequences of the glass cliff phenomenon by finding new factors using a mixed-method approach.

From a skills theory perspective, we explore the disparity between women's perceived leadership effectiveness and their underrepresentation in a public higher education institution (HEI) in Ghana. We identify the factors limiting women leaders' support and offer locally driven solutions.

A triangulated approach was used to analyse qualitative and quantitative data collected at a public HEI leadership workshop assessing perceptions of women leaders' education, communication, personality, emotional intelligence, skills and support dimensions. T-tests were used to test the perception variables, while thematic analysis elucidated factors contributing to women's underrepresentation in top positions.

The study found positive perceptions of female leadership, which differed among the genders, and the preference for female leaders stems from their perceived skills, abilities and education. However, religious and cultural beliefs perpetuate stereotypes that hinder women's advancement in leadership, which contradicts the skills-based approach to leadership.

Creating local awareness and support is necessary to reduce the fear of criticism and negative labelling from cultural beliefs hindering women from pursuing top leadership positions.

This study fills the literature gap on perceptions of women's leadership from a skills theory perspective. It contributes locally driven solutions to the challenges of underrepresentation of female leadership and women empowerment, providing local insights into female leadership effectiveness discourse.

Healthcare providers are under pressure due to increasing and more complex demands for services. Increased pressure on budgets and human resources adds to an ever-growing problem set. Competent leaders are in demand to ensure effective and well-performing healthcare organisations that deliver balanced results and high-quality services. Researchers have made significant efforts to identify and define determining competencies for healthcare leadership. Broad terms such as competence are, however, inherently at risk of becoming too generic to add analytical value. The purpose of this study is to suggest a holistic framework for understanding healthcare leadership competence, that can be crucial for operationalising important healthcare leadership competencies for researchers, decision-makers as well as practitioners.

In the present study, a critical interpretive synthesis (CIS) was conducted to analyse competency descriptions for healthcare leaders. The descriptions were retrieved from peer reviewed empirical studies published between 2010 and 2022 that aimed to identify healthcare services leadership competencies. Grounded theory was utilised to code the data and inductively develop new categories of healthcare leadership competencies. The categorisation was then analysed to suggest a holistic framework for healthcare leadership competence.

Forty-one papers were included in the review. Coding and analysing the competence descriptions resulted in 12 healthcare leadership competence categories: (1) character, (2) interpersonal relations, (3) leadership, (4) professionalism, (5) soft HRM, (6) management, (7) organisational knowledge, (8) technology, (9) knowledge of the healthcare environment, (10) change and innovation, (11) knowledge transformation and (12) boundary spanning. Based on this result, a holistic framework for understanding and analysing healthcare services leadership competencies was suggested. This framework suggests that the 12 categories of healthcare leadership competencies include a range of knowledge, skills and abilities that can be understood across the dimension personal – and technical, and organisational internal and – external competencies.

This literature review was conducted with the results of searching only two electronic databases. Because of this, there is a chance that there exist empirical studies that could have added to the development of the competence categories or could have contradicted some of the descriptions used in this analysis that were assessed as quite harmonised. A CIS also opens for a broader search, including the grey literature, books, policy documents and so on, but this study was limited to peer-reviewed empirical studies. This limitation could also have affected the result, as complex phenomenon such as competence might have been disclosed in greater details in, for example, books.

The holistic framework for healthcare leadership competences offers a common understanding of a “fuzzy” concept such as competence and can be used to identify specific competency needs in healthcare organisations, to develop strategic competency plans and educational programmes for healthcare leaders.

This study reveals a lack of consensus regarding the use and understanding of the concept of competence, and that key competencies addressed in the included papers are described vastly different in terms of what knowledge, skills and abilities they entail. This challenges the operationalisation of healthcare services leadership competencies. The proposed framework for healthcare services leadership competencies offers a common understanding of work-related competencies and a possibility to analyse key leadership competencies based on a holistic framework.

In recent years, public sector innovation practices have continuously penetrated central and regional governments. Observations show that many new innovation ideas are abandoned after initial implementation. Therefore, this study aims to examine the dark side of local public sector innovation through the case of the Mobile Application System of Local Tax (SAMPADE) innovation.

This study used the concept of the dark side of public sector innovation with a focus on SAMPADE innovation. Qualitative study cases were used, and empirical data were collected from semistructured interviews and observations. Secondary data were collected from published primary study sources, including peer-reviewed journals, case studies, government newsletters, online newspapers and books.

Referring to local findings, this study noted the weaknesses of public sector innovation caused by the failure of policymakers to consider any negative effects.

This study only focuses on the dark side of one example of public service innovation. The results or other conclusions may vary depending on the unfavorable phenomena of public sector innovation.

The dark side of public sector innovation is a theme that many scholars have not analyzed. This study will contribute to the discourse, particularly in the context of local governance and developing countries.

This study aims to review the last 50 years of academic research on collective leadership (CL) and how far it has progressed by using the Scopus database and the science mapping technique of bibliometric analysis.

This study has analysed 417 publications from the Scopus database on collective leadership from 1967 to 2023. Data were analysed using MS Excel and VOSviewer.

There has been research from different parts of the world on the various aspects of collective leadership. In recent years, collective leadership research has gained momentum. However, collective leadership is still at a nascent level when it comes to the applicability of the concepts. So far, the research on collective leadership has relied on themes such as shared leadership and distributed leadership, how collective leadership differs from other similar-looking leadership styles such as transformational leadership, and how this influences followers’ outcomes such as team effectiveness, achievements, relations, commitment, etc. Most of the research so far has been done in the United States of America, the UK and the Australian context. There exists a huge gap for studying collective leadership in African, Middle Eastern and Asian contexts.

Collective leadership research trends may be addressed to enable academics and practitioners to better understand current and future trends and research directions. Future studies in this field might use the findings as a starting point to highlight the nature of the topic.

Bibliometric techniques provide a far more comprehensive and reliable picture of the field. This article has the potential to serve as a one-stop resource for researchers and practitioners seeking information that can aid in transdisciplinary endeavours by leading them to recognized, peer-reviewed papers, journals and networks.

Responding to the call for more research on the consequences of grit, this study aims to examine the relationship between grit and employees’ perceived employability. Drawing on the self-determination theory, the authors hypothesize that job involvement and team member proactivity sequentially mediate the relationship between grit and employability.

A time-lagged research design with a one-month interval was conducted to collect data from three public sector organizations in China (N = 484). The model was tested using confirmatory factor analysis, correlation analysis and the PROCESS bootstrapping program in SPSS25.0 and AMOS21.0 software.

The findings reveal that the positive effect of grit on employability is mediated by job involvement and team member proactivity sequentially.

The authors contribute to the literature on the employability outcomes of grit. It is also one of a few studies that use a job perspective on the grit−employability relationship.

This study aims to use self-determination and social exchange theory to investigate how transformational leadership influences employees’ motivation for their work behaviors, with job autonomy serving as a mediator. This study hypothesized that transformational leadership could promote employees’ autonomy in performing their tasks, leading to the development of innovative work behaviors and organizational citizenship behaviors.

Using a multilevel approach, data was collected from 409 public service employees across 39 departments.

The findings indicate the significant impact of transformational leadership on shaping employees’ innovative work and organizational citizenship behavior. Notably, job autonomy emerges as a pivotal mediator, facilitating the positive effects of transformational leadership by empowering employees to explore innovative tasks beyond their prescribed roles, thereby enhancing team effectiveness and employee engagement.

This study’s originality lies in its innovative use of multilevel analysis to reveal job autonomy’s mediating role, offering fresh insights into promoting innovation and organizational in public service settings.

A local healthcare organisation providing healthcare to 288,000 residents in Sweden struggled with a longstanding budget deficit. Several attempts to overcome the demanding financial situation have failed. A decommissioning programme was launched, and two years later, an evaluation indicated positive outcomes. The aim of this study was to explore factors politicians and public servants perceived as enablers to the successful implementation of the programme.

A deductive content analysis approach using a framework of factors facilitating successful implementation of decommissioning decisions was applied to analyse interviews with 18 informants.

Important factors were: (1) a review report contributing to the clarity of evidence, which (2) made the clarity of the rationale for change undeniable and (3) strengthened the political support for change. Additional factors were: (4) the strength of executive leadership, (5) the strength of clinical leadership supported by (6) the quality of project management and (7) a cultural and behavioural change seen as an important outcome for the path forward. A way to maximise the potential for a successful implementation of a large-scale decommissioning programme is to build a shared vision and a collaboration grounded in convincing evidence. Include public servants with a clinical background in the executive leadership team to contribute with legitimacy, competence, and trust in the decommissioning programme’s intention.

The paper addresses the limited knowledge of best practices in decommissioning processes and contributes empirical knowledge from a successful case.