Exploring Leadership Styles of a Government Agency for Organizational Sustainability: A Case Stud

With the increased importance of organizational sustainability; leader's role and values in implementing and achieving organizational sustainability become pivotal. The problem addressed in this research was the financial exploitations of leaders likely influenced by their values and leadership style resulting in a deficiency in achieving organizational sustainability objectives. The annual cost of financial exploitations is estimated to be $2.6 trillion. Despite the significant impact of financial exploitations on organizational sustainability, the fundamental style of leaders in reducing the likelihood of financial exploitations, and in the successful achievement of organizational sustainability in a government setting lacks understanding. The purpose of this study was to provide a clearer understanding of the leadership style of a government agency's managers in achieving organizational sustainability objectives and as means to reduce financial exploitations that other managers could use to succeed in their roles towards organizational sustainability. The integration of three leadership theories; transactional, transformational; and servant leadership; was employed as a theoretical framework for this investigation into organizational sustainability. This qualitative single case study explored the lived experiences of 14 participants using a purposeful criterion sampling. Data collection entailed semi-structured interviews to gather participants' perceptions of their behaviors for organizational sustainability and the effect of values and integrity on leader's behaviors; specifically, on reducing the likelihood of financial exploitations. Data analysis included reducing transcripts from interviews, coding, categorization, and interpreting categories into themes. The results of this study included the emergence of leadership style that is a combination of transformational, transactional, and servant leadership styles, the moral identity of leaders; specifically integrity affects behaviors, and leader's integrity has a significant effect on reducing the likelihood of financial exploitations. These conclusions added to the current literature on organizational sustainability, leadership, and financial management, provided a clearer understanding of the leadership style for organizational sustainability, and provided a foundation for future research. Recommendations were delineated for practitioners regarding the understanding and managing of leadership behaviors relative to organizational sustainability. Additionally, recommendations were delineated for future research regarding the applicability of the integrative approach used in this study and the continued research into different government organizations.