This is the accepted manuscript (post-print version) of the article.Contentwise, the post-print version is identical to the final published version, but there may be differences in typography and layout.

No abstract

In recent decades, public administration has taken a great interest in leadership. However, this interest has been met with concerns that the effects of leadership are overestimated compared to other relevant organizational factors. In this article, we explore the relative importance of formal, vertical leadership, specifically transformational leadership, and horizontal relations, that is, the internal team relations, for different employee outcomes and user satisfaction. We argue that both factors may work through public service motivation (PSM). Based on survey data collected in Danish nursing homes linked with a user satisfaction survey and employee sickness absence data, we find that the internal team relations have the strongest association with some outcome measures, whereas others are more substantially related to vertical leadership. We further find that the relationship between transformational leadership and these outcome measures is fully mediated by PSM, whereas this is not the case with the internal team relations.

The Council of Ministers is an important part of EU decisionmaking. However, contrary to what is formally expected member, states are not always represented by ministers at Council meetings. Unfortunately, our knowledge of who is actually participating is limited. First, the article investigates the extent to which ministers actually participate in Council meetings. We conclude that a substantial number of the participants are not ministers. Second, based on an institutional approach, the article tests six hypotheses as to when ministers participate. Here, we find the salience of meetings, the importance of the policy area, the length of EU membership and a high share of EU-positive parties enhance the likelihood of ministerial participation. Finally, we test whether the existence of junior ministers affects the likelihood of politicians participating. Here, our findings are inconclusive. The article builds on a database including all participants in Council meetings between 2005 and 2009.

Purpose The literature so far has shown that perceptions of managerial interventions matter for motivation and performance. However, how these perceptions are formed and develop over time is less clear. The purpose of this paper is to fill part of this gap. Design/methodology/approach The paper uses a panel case study to investigate how perceptions of a managerial intervention are formed and developed over time among daycare workers in a Danish municipality. Findings The paper reveals the dynamic nature of preferences and the centrality of the local manager in perception formation, illustrating that it is not necessarily the implementation style (soft/hard) that is important as much as the managerial involvement in the initiative. Practical implications Whereas managers are still well advised to consider the pros and cons of a hard vs a soft implementation approach, this paper also underlines the importance of constant managerial involvement not only to ensure implementation but also to continuously impact the way managerial interventions are perceived. Originality/value The paper adds to the existing knowledge about perception formation by using a panel case study, hence illustrating the dynamic character of perception formation.