Servant Leadership in the Public Sector: Employee Perspective

The purpose of this study is to explore how servant leadership affects public sector employee engagement, organisational ethical climate, and public sector reform, of two public enterprises, in the under-researched public sector of a Small Island Developing State (SID) - Fiji. Qualitative, longitudinal, case studies examined the servant leadership experience of employees of two public enterprises. Data was collected from employees of both public enterprises through in-depth interviews and participant observations, and was thematically analysed. Pre-existing conditions of both enterprises, and lack of employee familiarity with servant leadership, resulted in different levels of employee acceptance of servant leadership, which affected employee engagement, organisational ethical climate, and public sector reform. © 2019, Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature.