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Purpose: This paper aims to validate a broader conceptualization of ethical leadership and a matching measurement scale (BELS) using survey data from 909 public servants in leadership positions in the Netherlands. Design/methodology/approach: The confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) (using AMOS) and exploratory factor analysis were carried out with repeated CFA. A social desirability scale was used to check for model fitness. Findings: Our findings support the notion that ethical leadership is broader in conceptualization and hence reject the theories that limit the role of ethical leaders within the confines of organizations. This study confirms that attributes like sustainability, leadership learning, ethical competency, diversity and resilience are part of ethical leadership. Such characteristics could not be measured with previous scales for ethical leadership. Also, ethical leadership is not separate from associated leadership styles. Research limitations/implications: A self-assessment scale for leaders was used for this study. Although there is no indication of social desirability bias, future research can also focus on follower assessments of their leaders. This study only focuses on the public sector context only. Practical implications: Our results suggest that ethical leadership contains more subvalues than in the seminal definition. This study has, therefore, corroborated a broader definition of ethical leadership. Originality/value: This study indicates the need for ethical leadership to be studied and assessed using a broader conceptualization and measurement scale. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Boards are expected to contribute to an organization's performance. In the case of schools, this means that the board should contribute to educational quality. However, there is no scientific proof that this expectation is valid. The (growing) literature on boards suggests that the effects of school boards depend on variables, such as board behaviour and corporate governance. In this study, we present the results of a secondary analysis drawing on representative existing datasets on Dutch secondary schools. This is unique as previous research usually dealt with non-representative cases or samples. Our merged dataset includes measurements of board characteristics, board behaviour and pupils' achievements. Through Structural Equation Modelling, we show that there is ample evidence that board characteristics and board behaviour affect pupils' achievements. The only variable affecting pupil's achievements is counter vailing power perceived by the executives in the school board. The model also hints at more complex patterns of interacting variables at the board level. To get more insight into how these variables interact, a different research approach is necessary, such as case studies on board behaviour, and on the effects thereof within the school. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Institutional pressure caused by public sector reform leads to strategic reactions from semi-autonomous agencies. Agencies in the Netherlands and France only complied with a selection of imposed reforms. Other rules were manipulated, not complied with, or compromises were made. The degree of compliance with reforms is not only dependent on structural aspects, but also on resources and power distributions between the actors. A comparison is made between the introduction of the Dutch Kaderwet ZBO and the French Révision Générale des Politiques Publiques. These agency reforms are contested between ministries, rather than between agency and parent ministry alone. Parent ministries tend to side with their agencies in both countries. In the Netherlands, power-related issues were most debated, whereas in France money-related issues caused most disagreement. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agencification has extended and intensified the delegation problem. It has created new (administrative) principals, who are confronted with even more uncertainty as agents operate at arm's length. Trust is suggested as a new mode of governance. Based on the literature seven hypotheses are deduced on conditions that politicians can use to build trust: autonomy; contacts; policy involvement; and involvement in the design of monitoring devices. These hypotheses are tested using survey data on 219 Dutch executive agencies. Contrary to the expectations, executive agencies with low degrees of autonomy have a more trusting relationship with their parent ministry than agencies with high autonomy. Proximity and frequent interactions appear more important to trust than autonomy. Monitoring is not always perceived as a sign of distrust. These findings raise new questions on how principals can reduce the delegation problem and control executive agencies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chapter 3 of the book "New Steering Concepts in Public Management," edited by Sandra Groeneveld and Steven Van de Walle is presented. It highlights several administrative reforms implemented by the Dutch national government to solve problems like fiscal deficits and decreased public legitimacy. It explores the steering relationship between governments and agencies, to which governments often have not adopted very well.

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