Comparing Public and Private Managers' Leadership Styles: Understanding the Role of Job Context

ABSTRACT

Comparing public and private managers is a major subject in the public management literature, but there have been only a few empirical studies of the differences in their respective leadership styles. Traditionally, leadership style is explained by the characteristics of the manager, the employees, and their job. This study explains leadership by the manager's job context: the degree of job complexity, role clarity, and job autonomy. We argue that differences in job context explain the use of different leadership styles in the public and private sector. To clearly specify the importance of sector, the study investigates direct, mediating, and moderating effects. Based on a survey of Danish public and private managers with 949 respondents, this article shows that job context variables vary significantly between public and private sector managers. The article provides some explanations for why public managers use more participative leadership, while private ones use more directive leadership.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We acknowledge helpful comments and suggestions from colleagues at Aarhus University, two anonymous reviewers and, not least, editor Steven Kelman. We would like to thank Lederne (The Danish Association of Managers and Executives) and Centre for Organizational Renewal and Evolution—CORE, Aarhus School of Business, Aarhus University for giving access to The Danish Management Barometer data.

Notes

Note. Coefficients for gender and management level reflect the proportion of females and top managers working in each sector. For age and experience the average of each sector is reported and tested for significant difference.

^a Kendall tau.

^b t-test.

Note. Factor analysis (principal factors). Orthogonal rotation.

Note. Standard errors in parentheses. Values reported are retained factor scores.

^a t-tests for differences in mean.

***p < 0.001.

^a Robust standard errors in parentheses.

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. All tests are two-tailed.

^a Robust standard errors in parentheses.

*p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001. All tests are two-tailed.

Nineteen respondents reported that they worked in an organisation characterised as a public–private combination. The data on these respondents are insufficient and cannot be entered as a third category.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Jesper Rosenberg Hansen

Jesper Rosenberg Hansen ([email protected]) is Assistant Professor at the School of Economics and Management at Aarhus University, where he also received his PhD. His research focuses on application of management theory in relation to public organisations. He has, among other things, studied strategic management and contracting out in upper secondary schools and municipalities, respectively.

Anders R. Villadsen

Anders R. Villadsen ([email protected]) is a post-doctoral researcher at the School of Economics and Management at Aarhus University, where he also received his PhD. His current research examines antecedents to organisational change and how organisational responses to rules and expectations from legislative authorities are formed.