Leadership development for public sector performance: a longitudinal field experiment in an educational context

Leadership and leadership development have been an important area of study for many public administration scholars for the past few decades. However, a thorough understanding of how leadership development can improve leadership behaviour and thus increase organisational performance in the public sector is still missing. This research project addresses the need for more rigorous empirical research to examine leadership in public administration and more specifically the relationship between leadership development and performance in primary education. Performance is defined in terms of collaboration, learning climate and work engagement. Case studies will be used to evaluate how a leadership development programme influences their leadership behaviour and the outcomes on the level of the school leader, teachers and other staff members.