From Leadership to Performance: A Serial Mediation Model of Performance Management System Effectiveness and Public Service Motivation in the Public Sector

The drive for reform has focused on performance management and the professionalization of public sector management. While public organizations strive to achieve efficiency, effective internal processes, and performance gains, public managers and employees still need convincing of the benefits of adopting performance management systems. This study examines how performance management system effectiveness (PMSE) influences individual motivation and employee outcomes. First,recognizing leadership as a critical variable, the study investigates the relationship between leadership styles and PMSE. Second, guided by the path-goal theory and the process theory of public service motivation (PSM), the study tests a serial mediation model in which PMSE and PSM sequentially mediate the effects of leadership styles on employee outcomes, including mastery orientation, performance orientation, and job performance. A sample of local government employees in the Philippines was used to test the hypothesized model. Findings indicate that participatory and instrumental leadership styles significantly predictPMSE, enhancing PSM. The serial mediation analysis results confirm that leadership’s influence on employee outcomes is transmitted through the combined pathway of PMSE and PSM.