Leadership in the public sector: A review of the literature

The statement presented below is a theoretical and documentary review of the literature on the relationship between two concepts that have been widely developed separately, but whose relationship and interdepence are not yet find large developments or research to support it: leadership and motivation in public companies. This proposal will form part of the basis for the proposal to be submitted as a doctoral dissertation by the author of this article related with the topic "Methodology for evaluating the economic and social impacts of Transmilenio in Bogota" because in it these two concepts converge. As a contribution to the topic of leadership in the public sector, the author suggests how these concepts can become an interesting strategy for organizational improvement of the companies in this sector if developed simultaneously. First, an introduction where the need of this kind of research is shown as a response to the constant search for methodologies in the organizations to optimizing their processes. Especially when the scope is located in an area that suffers from performance in this respect: the public sector. Then as part of the theoretical contribution to the processes of this sector, a small construction that supports and highlights some conditions that define this sector, is presented. This is the theory of public goods and services. Within the literature review, a theoretical concept presented significantly in most studies of leadership in the public sector was found. This is the Public Service Motivation (PSM). A proposal about their basic concepts, origin, components and developments is presented as a contribution to the understanding of the stated review. As a central theme of this proposal and as announced in the title, a review of the literature on the studies on the relationship between leadership, motivation and performance of employees in companies that provide public services is presented. As this is an issue that has attracted the interest of scholars in relatively recent times, this review focuses on recent findings about that. Finally, as a conclusion, the author presents his main thoughts on the subject and use these ideas as a proposals for the "future directions" where could be directed the relevant investigations.