Leadership and administrative transformation in the Greek forest service: A research approach under the lens of new public management

Abstract

Leadership is considered to be a key factor in the effective and sustainable public administration with a view to putting emphasis on efficiency, transparency, and accountability, according to the New Public Management (NPM) approach. The Forest Service of Greece was selected as the field of application to portray leadership under administrative/technological changes by empirically analyzing the aspect of leadership vis-à-vis institutional, organizational, and technological parameters. With the help of primary source quantitative data (n = 232), through Principal Component Analysis (PCA), reliability testing via Cronbach’s Alpha, regression analysis, and Spearman correlations, a composite Leadership Index was constructed and its decisional variables recognized. Goal setting, staffing, and acceptance of technology were identified as the strongest variables, while digital readiness along with organizational trust is fostering administrative resilience. These findings reveal the contemporary fact that leadership should not be viewed as an individual characteristic but rather as an active institutional function.