Fostering proactivity in the public sector: The role of organizational culture and public leadership

The public service ethos underpinning public employment encourages public servants to broaden their contribution to public value creation by proactively embracing workplace challenges. This study examines how organizational culture and public leadership foster such proactive behavior in the public sector. Drawing on survey data collected from 2,262 municipal public servants, the study employs an ordinary least squares regression model to investigate the direct and indirect effects of organizational culture on the individual propensity to undertake challenging job demands. The findings indicate that an organizational culture characterized by participation and transparency energizes public servants to challenge their jobs. Furthermore, it strengthens public leadership, which, in turn, enhances employees’ readiness to undertake challenging job demands. These results suggest that public sector organizations should cultivate workplace environments that engage public servants and reinforce their motivation to contribute to public value generation.