Exploring the link between integrated leadership-in-government and follower happiness: the case of Dubai
| Published date | 01 December 2019 |
| Author | Malcolm Beynon,Megan Mathias,Scott Fargher |
| Date | 01 December 2019 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020852317748731 |
| Subject Matter | Articles |
Article
International
Review of
Administrative
Sciences
Exploring the link
between integrated
leadership-in-
government and
follower happiness:
the case of Dubai
Megan Mathias
Cardiff University, UK
Scott Fargher
Mohammed bin Rashid School of Government,
United Arab Emirates
Malcolm Beynon
Cardiff University, UK
Abstract
This study develops a concept of integrated leadership-in-government as a global and
multifaceted construct for the first time in the Dubai and wider Gulf context.
Leadership-in-government combines eight public leadership roles articulated in
recent literature, as performed by managers at all levels within the government
hierarchy. The eight public leadership roles are: accountability, rule-following, political
loyalty, network governance, task-oriented, relations-oriented, change-oriented and
diversity-oriented leadership. Data is gathered via a survey of over 900 employees in
Dubai government organisations. Findings from the empirical analysis suggest that a
manager’s performance of integrated leadership-in-government has a significant effect
on employee happiness, as measured through job satisfaction and self-perceived
performance.
Corresponding author:
Megan Mathias, Wales Centre for Public Policy, 10-12 Museum Place, Cardiff University, Cardiff CF10 3BG,
UK.
Email: megan.mathias@gmail.com
International Review of
Administrative Sciences
2019, Vol. 85(4) 780–798
!The Author(s) 2018
Article reuse guidelines:
sagepub.com/journals-permissions
DOI: 10.1177/0020852317748731
journals.sagepub.com/home/ras
Points for practitioners
Leadership in government involves an integrated set of roles specific to the context of
government – making it different to leadership in other contexts. As perceived by
employees, leadership within government organisations in Dubai is, however, similar
to leadership within government organisations in Western democracies. Employees
report that leadership in government has a positive effect on their happiness, in
terms of their job satisfaction and self-perceived performance.
Keywords
government, happiness, integrated leadership, job satisfaction, public leadership,
self-perceived performance
Introduction
The aim of this study is to develop a concept of integrated leadership-in-government
as a global concept and as a multifaceted construct for the first time in the Dubai
and wider Gulf context. As such, the authors are seeking to contribute to the rich
seam of scholarship aiming to develop integrative models of leadership (e.g.
Chemers, 2014; Hunt, 1991; Yukl et al., 2002) by offering a new synthesis of
leadership roles in the public sector, building on scholarship such as Van Wart
(2012), Fernandez et al. (2010) and Tummers and Knies (2016).
In recent years, literature has emerged emphasising the distinctiveness of
leadership in the public sector (Getha-Taylor et al., 2011). This distinctiveness is
attributed to many factors, including the contested, but collective, purposes of
public leadership, the motivations of its protagonists, the complex nature of
its challenges, and the contingent need to collaborate through networks, as well
as to its context of multifaceted accountability (Bryson et al., 2015). The literature
on leadership in the public sector is new and ‘fragmentation and conflicting
nomenclature continue to be a problem’ (Van Wart, 2013: 538). To help overcome
potential confusion, we locate the focus of this study as follows. Public leadership
is understood to be the full range of activities engaged in by post-holders in public
organisations to influence others’ actions, values and beliefs; it is thus relational,
‘an interactive process between those we call leaders, the people who choose (or
feel forced) to be led by them, and the environment in which their interaction takes
place’ (t’Hart, 2014: 10).
Public leadership embraces both political and administrative leaders in public
organisations, and typically focuses on those holding very senior posts. In this
study, we follow the distinction made by Van Wart (2012) and Fernandez et al.
(2010) of leadership in government being leadership by those in administrative
(non-elected) posts at all levels in government organisations. We focus on the
leadership of managers in government within their home organisations, and on
Mathias et al. 781
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