Xiao Fen-Xian, Lin Yun, Kuang Jun-Feng, Yang Lin-Lin, Wang Qiu
College of Innovation and Management, Suan Sunandha Rajabhat University, Bangkok City, Thailand.
School of Finance and Public Administration, Yunnan University of Finance and Economics, Kunming, China.
Sci Rep. 2025 Jul 23;15(1):26705. doi: 10.1038/s41598-025-11504-x.
Drawing on job demands-resources theory, this study explains the underlying mechanism by which servant leadership affects public employees' innovative behaviors. Building upon this foundation, the study constructs a hypothesized theoretical model positioning psychological safety as the mediator and public service motivation as the moderator. Through institutional cooperation with graduate schools at two universities in Yunnan Province, China, a survey was administered to 680 Master of Public Administration students, yielding 642 valid responses for analysis. Based on a sample of 642 public employees from public organizations in China, servant leadership was found to positively affect public employees' psychological safety and innovative behaviors. Psychological safety partially mediated the relationship between servant leadership and innovative behaviors. Furthermore, public service motivation moderated the link between psychological safety and innovative behaviors. These findings suggest that public organizations must develop and train servant leaders using various strategies to establish and maintain a psychologically safe work environment conducive to innovation and also should attach importance to the significant role of public service motivation in enhancing innovative behaviors among public employees.
本研究借鉴工作需求-资源理论，解释了公仆型领导影响公共部门员工创新行为的潜在机制。在此基础上，该研究构建了一个假设的理论模型，将心理安全定位为中介变量，将公共服务动机定位为调节变量。通过与中国云南省两所大学的研究生院进行机构合作，对680名公共管理硕士学生进行了调查，得到642份有效问卷用于分析。基于来自中国公共组织的642名公共部门员工样本，研究发现公仆型领导对公共部门员工的心理安全和创新行为有积极影响。心理安全部分中介了公仆型领导与创新行为之间的关系。此外，公共服务动机调节了心理安全与创新行为之间的联系。这些研究结果表明，公共组织必须采用各种策略来培养和培训公仆型领导，以建立和维护有利于创新的心理安全工作环境，并且还应重视公共服务动机在增强公共部门员工创新行为方面的重要作用。
