What Now?: A study of leadership preferences among Dutch municipal employees during the COVID-19 pandemic

Persistent URL of this record https://hdl.handle.net/1887/3655812

In Collections

This item can be found in the following collections:

Public Administration (MSc)

Kenter, Mark (2023)

What Now? A study of leadership preferences among Dutch municipal employees during the COVID-19 pandemic

Master thesis | Public Administration (MSc)

The COVID-19 pandemic had a substantial impact on Dutch public organizations, and on society as a whole. This study aims to explore the leadership preferences among public servants during times of crisis, and to make concrete recommendations for further research into the underdeveloped knowledge on public leadership preferences in times of crisis. To do so, semistructured interviews were conducted with employees from the municipalities of The Hague and Gouda, during which they were asked to report their needs in terms of three leadership styles: laissez-faire, transactional and transformational. The study found that transformational leadership was preferred during the pandemic and encourages fellow researchers to verify this using quantitative means. Further recommendations include the reexamination of the usefulness of laissez-faire leadership and the usage of different leadership frameworks to touch upon other behaviors.

public administration

transactional leadership

transformational leadership

laissez-faire leadership

exploratory

COVID-19