Fostering public sector employees’ innovative behavior: The roles of servant leadership, public service motivation, and learning goal orientation

Abstract

Although public employees’ innovative behavior is essential for ongoing improvement of public services and thereby development of public organizations, limited research has examined this topic—especially in transition countries. Drawing on social cognitive theory, this study theorizes that servant leadership fosters public sector employees’ innovative behavior through the sequential mediation roles of public service motivation and learning goal orientation. Results from structural equation modelling with multi-source data from Vietnam’s public sector employee and manager surveys support the hypothesized model. Our study sheds light on the drivers of public employees’ innovative behavior in a less researched context.