Previous studies found that inclusion is a necessary condition for managing a diverse work group and tapping into its positive performance potential and that organizational leaders can play an...Show morePrevious studies found that inclusion is a necessary condition for managing a diverse work group and tapping into its positive performance potential and that organizational leaders can play an important role in cultivating inclusion in the workplace, but the context in which organizational leaders exercise inclusive leadership remains understudied. This study aims to create a better understanding of how the situational opportunities and constraints arising from the environment of public organizations affect the extent to which public managers can develop inclusive leadership. To this end, this study examined the direct and indirect effects of politicization on inclusive leadership through centralization and formalization. This study uses data collected from a survey of employees of public managers working within the core ministries of the Dutch central government (N = 1,029). The results of the quantitative data study showed that centralization and formalization partially mediate the positive relationship between politicization and inclusive leadership in public organizations. However, additional data from two focus groups with public managers (total N = 7) also support the theoretical expectation that politicization is negatively related to inclusive leadership. These findings suggest that the organizational context factors of politicization, centralization, and formalization can affect inclusive leadership in competing ways, reflecting the complex context in which public managers operate. As such, this study contributes to theory building in the field of inclusive leadership by examining inclusive leadership as a dependent variable.Show less