Follow the Leader? Leader Succession and Staff Attitudes in Public Sector Organizations

Abstract

Public sector organizations face regular turnover in top leadership positions. Yet little is known about how such changes affect staff attitudes. The authors argue that top leader succession may influence staff attitudes, particularly when new leaders are “outsiders” and/or subordinates interact regularly with their leaders. Using a unique two‐wave survey conducted within the European Commission in 2008 and 2014, this analysis tests these propositions by studying the same individuals before and after shifts in top political (commissioner) and administrative (director‐general) positions. The study shows that leadership succession can trigger meaningful shifts in subordinates' stated attitudes regarding the European Commission's supranational identity. These findings are important because staff attitudes about organizational values and aims represent a key driver of individual and organizational performance.

It's about time! Temporal dynamics and longitudinal research designs in public administration

“…Yet, the specificities of public sector employment may also affect the development of public service motivation over time (Braender & Andersen, 2013;Georgellis & Tabvuma, 2010;Jensen et al, 2020;Kjeldsen & Jacobsen, 2013). A second branch of individual-level longitudinal research relies on relatively short-term panel datasets from field, survey, or natural experiments to study the impact on public employees of leadership styles (Bro & Jensen, 2020;Jakobsen et al, 2023;Jensen et al, 2019;Nielsen et al, 2019) or major reforms within public organizations (Geys et al, 2020;Geys, Connolly, et al, 2023;Geys, Laegreid, et al, 2023;Murdoch et al, 2019). While well-designed (quasi-)experimental studies allow for strong causal inferences with regard to the presence/absence of change over time, their short time periods naturally come with limitations from the perspective of temporal dynamics.…”

Instability in New Zealand’s Public Sector

“…more positive influence on performance', with performance often peaking in year seven or so (Wulf et al, 2010, p.23). Frequent and repetitive changes in CEO destabilise organisations and can harm performance of organisations (Simsek, 2007;Geys et al, 2020). This evidence is recognised in the New Zealand public sector's common policy, in theory, of CEO contracts of five years with the option to extend for another three.…”

Crisis of the Union: Public Management and Leadership in an Era of Discontent

“…Geys et al (2020) examine the effect of turnover in top leadership positions on staff attitudes. Using a unique two‐wave survey, they find that leadership succession can trigger meaningful shifts in subordinates' stated attitudes.…”