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The purpose of this paper is to advance critical theoretical insights into the idea of “relational bureaucratic leadership” and its implications for public administration in developing countries (DCs). In doing so, the paper sets out new agendas for public service governance in DCs that recognizes the changing nature and emerging complexities of both the public service and society.

This is an exploratory study which synthesises literature in management, human resources, leadership studies and public administration, to understand the limitations of mainstream approaches to bureaucratic leadership in DCs, particularly SSA, with a view of identifying alternative practices.

Findings from this paper suggest that public service governance in DCs are embedded in complex dynamics between power relations, complexity and social norms, and bureaucratic leaders should, therefore, focus on building relationships as a means of deepening trust and enhancing cooperation among critical actors. The case for a shift in focus to “relationality” reflects changes in the broader global political economy, including emerging wicked and multi-faceted policy problems that require heterodox and context-sensitive responses from governments and greater collaboration among key stakeholders.

The analysis of the limitations of traditional approaches to public service governance in this essay reveals the importance of a shift from a preoccupation with conventional organizational forms and functions, to place greater emphasis on social networks and relationships, as a way of improving leadership efficiency in the public services of DCs.

This study examines the effects of perceived leadership styles on the perceived creativity and innovation of public servants working in a rapidly developing country while shedding light on the internal causal dynamics of these effects.

Survey data are collected from 568 Qatari public servants working in a variety of public sector organizations. Data are analysed using structural equation modelling (SEM) employing SmartPLS.

A significant relationship between perceived leadership styles and public servants' self-perceived creativity is found, with psychological empowerment as a mediating variable. Public servants that perceive their leaders as conveying transformational, transactional and servant leadership styles are found to have significantly higher self-perceived creativity, whereas authentic leadership does not have a significant positive effect. This finding indicates that transformational, transactional and servant leadership styles appear to impact public servants' creativity. This impact corresponds with findings from research on the relationship between leadership styles and creativity in the private sector. The results of this study confirmed the mediating effect of psychological empowerment, apart from authentic leadership.

The findings shed light on the relationship between perceived leadership styles and the self-perceived creativity of public servants working in a rapidly developing country, its causal dynamics and how these effects relate to corresponding findings in the private sector. The ensuing practical implications offer guidelines on how to organize leadership to maximize creativity and innovation in the public sector, especially in rapidly developing countries.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the relationship between leadership styles and Organizational commitment among academic staff in Ugandan Public Universities, mediated by Job Satisfaction.

The study was cross-sectional, quantitative, and used correlation and regression to test the hypothesis. A sample of 353 academic staff was drawn from five public universities in Uganda, of which a response rate of 66 percent was obtained.

Organizational commitment among academic staff in public universities in Uganda depends on the age of the academic staff, length of service, position level, leadership styles employed, and job satisfaction. Findings further show that job satisfaction partially mediates the relationship between leadership styles and organizational commitment.

Only a single research methodological approach was employed; thus, future research through interviews could be undertaken to triangulate.

In order to boost the organizational commitment among academic staff in Ugandan Public Universities, managers should always endeavor to employ a blend of leadership styles that leads to job satisfaction and can add value to the employee-employer relationship.

This study contributes to the body of knowledge by finding further support on the relationship between leadership styles and organizational commitment among academic staff in Ugandan public universities. It further demonstrates that job satisfaction partially transmits the effect of leadership styles on organizational commitment in public universities in Uganda.

Public service motivation (PSM), among actual and prospective employees in the public sector, lead to positive work outcomes. However, there is limited integration of PSM with existing motivational theories, especially self-determination theory (SDT). The impact of destructive leadership styles on PSM is also understudied. The study aims to fill the gap.

The study used a cross-sectional survey of 693 public sector officials employed in Indian Railways to test the hypotheses. PLS-SEM was used for the analysis. The study found that fulfillment of basic psychological needs (BPN) at work leads to improved PSM while BPN partially mediates the positive/negative effect of constructive/destructive leadership styles like servant/autocratic leadership on employees' PSM.

Autocratic/servant leadership was negatively/positively and significantly related to PSM and to all three BPN needs. Servant leadership was found to be positively and significantly related to all three BPN needs, while the BPN needs partially mediated the relationship between servant leadership and PSM.

The study identifies servant leadership as a driver of PSM and suggests that managers employed in public sector establishments should be trained to be less autocratic and more attuned to subordinates' needs. The baneful impact of autocratic leadership on employee PSM is highlighted. The cross-sectional nature of study makes it susceptible to common-method bias. The sample was limited to a single country. Future longitudinal and experimental studies based on samples drawn from multiple countries can yield more robust results.

The study advances the integration of PSM with SDT by identifying PSM with introjected motivation. It is also the first study to link destructive leadership styles with a reduction in employees' PSM. It identifies a counterintuitive, negative relationship between competence need satisfaction and PSM in the Indian public sector.

The purpose of this paper is to advance the theoretical perspective of complexity leadership paradigm to introduce shared leadership style as a precursor of taking charge behavior in public sector higher educational institutions (HEIs) of Pakistan. Moreover, this study unveils the underlying mechanisms of the climate of initiative and psychological safety for clarifying the link of shared leadership and taking charge.

The multi-source and multi-wave data were analyzed by employing double mediation analysis (PROCESS Model 4); using 282 valid responses obtained from a proportionate stratified sample of faculty members working in public sector HEIs of Pakistan.

The result indicates that shared leadership is a suitable style for governing the public sector HEIs and it fosters taking charge behavior in teaching faculty. Additionally, shared leadership creates climates that support initiatives and are psychologically safe that set stage for taking charge behaviors in teaching faculty of public sector HEIs of Pakistan.

This research has filled the gap of focusing on more collaborative leadership styles instead of traditional vertical leadership practices in public sector HEIs of Pakistan. Theoretically, this study suggests new insights into the contextual antecedents and mediating mechanisms of taking charge behaviors.

This paper aims to explore the position of women in the communication management sector in Spain from their own experiences. The study examines female communication and leadership styles, emphasising the cost of leadership in which they are leaders or led.

This study used a qualitative methodology based on in-depth interviews with 22 women actively working in top companies and agencies: female communication directors, female employees with a female leader and female employees with a male leader. Data were analysed through thematic analysis.

Results show mixed communication and leadership styles. In addition, the high level of self-demand of female communication managers stands out, making it challenging to achieve a work-life balance and the implementation of successful role models.

Exploring the factors of female leadership remains necessary to understand and make their situation in various industries and positions visible. It also helps remove barriers to leadership, guide organisations in addressing gender discrimination issues and develop mechanisms for the internal promotion of female professionals.

To the best of authors' knowledge, this is the first study exploring the leadership and communication styles of women in the Spanish Public Relations (PR) and communication management industries. It also highlights the aspects influencing the cost of leadership.

The purpose of the current study is to examine the impact of organizational leadership style and employee empowerment on employees’ perception of organizational reputation by testing a hypothesized model.

A quantitative on‐line survey was conducted with 700 randomly selected employees from diverse work units of a Fortune 500 company in the United States in February 2011.

The results showed that transformational leadership positively influences employees’ perception of organizational reputation, not only directly but also indirectly, through empowering employees. Transactional leadership has a significant negative direct effect on employees’ perception of organizational reputation. Employees who feel more empowered in terms of perceived competence and decision‐making control have a more favorable evaluation of organizational reputation.

By building links between organizational reputation and the two internal antecedent factors, organizational leadership and employee empowerment, the current work extended the list of internal characteristics of excellent public relations, filled the research gap on leadership and empowerment study in public relations, and contributed to the increasing body of knowledge on internal communication.

The findings suggest that what determines the employees’ views toward the company is how they feel they are treated and whether they have enough say in decision‐making. To build a favorable internal reputation, communication professionals should educate organizational leaders of all levels and engage them in strategic, interactive, empowering, democratic and relational‐oriented transformational leadership communication behavior.

This study was among the first empirical attempts to examine organizational leadership as an influencing factor for internal communication practice and outcomes.

Leaders have been facing serious challenges in managing organizations during COVID-19, which has brought the need for implementing sudden technological change across the globe. Hence, it was important to identify effective leadership styles to successfully manage the transformational process during the period. Therefore, the current study aims to explore and compare the effectiveness of transformational and ethical leadership (EL) in terms of achieving organizational goals during COVID-19 in public and private sector organizations in Pakistan.

Comparative research was carried out to find out the effectiveness of transformational and EL during and pre-COVID-19 in public and private sector organizations using the lens of social exchange theory. Data was collected from 214 respondents representing 67.6% of public and 32.4% of private sector organizations of Pakistan at two different points in time. Detailed comparative analyses were conducted in AMOS version 24 to assess the effectiveness of leadership styles before and during COVID-19 times.

On the whole, transformational leadership (TL) was found to have a greater impact on organizational effectiveness (OE) in comparison with EL in both pre-and during COVID-19 situations. Moreover, the effectiveness of TL significantly increased and the same decreased for EL during COVID-19. Additional analyses indicated that TL was effective for the private sector and EL for public sector organizations during COVID-19.

The study has not considered the mediating mechanisms of employee motivation, engagement and performance in the relationship between transformational and EL styles and OE, which can be explored in the future.

These results have important implications for private and public sector organizations and suggest that the adoption of a TL style will generate better results in the private sector and an EL style in public sector organizations to achieve OE in uncertain situations such as COVID-19.

The study shows that leadership with more care and concern for humanity tends to perform better in terms of generating results for OE. Therefore, both transformational and EL are based on individualized consideration for employees and are effective during COVID-19 in private and public sector organizations in Pakistan.

The study has carried out the comparative analyses in three different ways, including leadership styles (transformational and ethical), type of organization (private and public) and time frames (pre and during COVID-19), which is a true contribution of the research in the Pakistani context.

This study aims to examine perceptions of politics among public sector employees as a possible mediator between the supervisor's leadership style and formal and informal aspects of employees' performance (Organizational Citizenship Behavior – OCB).

The Multifactor Leadership Questionnaire (MLQ) was distributed to employees of a public security organization in Israel (N=201), asking them to evaluate their supervisor's style of leadership. Employees were also asked to report their perceptions of organizational politics using the scale developed by Kacmar and Ferris. In addition, supervisors provided objective evaluations of the levels of their employees' in‐role performance and OCB. The intra‐structure of the leadership variable was examined by exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with structural equation modeling. Two alternative models were examined: first, a model of mediation and second, a direct model with no mediation.

The research resulted in mixed findings that only partially support the mediating effect of organizational politics on the relationship between leadership, in‐role performance and OCB. A direct relationship between leadership and performance (in‐role and OCB) was also found.

The differences between the models do not allow clear answers as to the mediating or direct effect of organizational politics in the relationship between leadership and performance. The implications on causality are also limited.

Managers should recognize the advantages and disadvantages of different leadership styles as these may affect organizational politics and eventually, formal performance and organizational citizenship behaviors.

The findings of this paper contribute to the understanding of the relationships between leadership, performance, and politics in the workplace and in the public sector in particular.

This paper aims to present the case of Jón Gnarr's leadership as he served as a mayor of Reykjavík, the capital of Iceland. The authors’ view is that his leadership style illustrates a case study of how a “new” leadership style can emerge in times of crisis. Iceland was significantly affected by the financial crisis in 2008, which led to political and economic crises, which were fuelled by the public's anger and lack of trust. In 2010, Jón Gnarr and his new party, the Best Party, were unexpectedly elected. Before he became known as an unorthodox leader, he worked as a comedian. However, he influenced the discourse in politics in the country and raised trust in the system again while empowering the public managers and simplifying the system while downsizing it. This paper explores and sheds light on the leadership abilities that crises can birth.

This research uses qualitative methods. Seven in-depth interviews were conducted, and the interviewees included Jón Gnarr, three key political leaders who were in office at that time and three executive-level leaders from the city administration.

Evidence suggests that Jón Gnarr and his political party became a part of the political arena due to extreme social and economic factors, which might indicate the factors that can give rise to an unorthodox leader. At the same time, the research portrays the image of a leader that closely matches the theories of authentic leadership, and his leadership style at the time made a lasting impact. When Gnarr stepped into the role of mayor of Reykjavík, he used novel tactics. His political discourse was different; his manner with the public as well as within the system was different. When he became mayor, he demonstrated trust, respect and care as his underlying values. His unorthodox political behaviour appears to have empowered public officials. Thus, gradually, he inspired his followers to change their own communication style. He also addressed traditional political issues such as downsizing, mergers and financial undertakings.

Its limitation is that it is difficult to generalize based on one case.

The case can shed a light on how unorthodox leadership style can unlock the potential of empowering and trust in a traditional political system. Leaders who dare to be different can raise awareness of those who work within the system as well as the public.

This paper contributes to the understanding of authentic and unconventional leadership as an efficient vehicle in unusual circumstances in a public leadership position.