Leadership Development in the Public Sector: From Competencies to Contradictions

Leadership Development in the Public Sector: From Competencies to Contradictions

📢 Call for Papers | Special Issue

JOURNAL: International Journal of Public Leadership

PUBLISHER: Emerald Publishing

SUBMISSION OPENS: 01 March 2026

SUBMISSION DEADLINE: 01 September 2026

ABOUT THIS SPECIAL ISSUE

Leadership development in the public sector has become a widespread practice, yet much of it lacks a strong theoretical and empirical foundation tailored to its unique context. Despite extensive investments in leadership programs, there is still limited theory and evidence on what actually works, for whom, and under what conditions in public service settings.

This special issue challenges the prevailing public sector leadership development literature by investigating its frameworks, prescriptions, and best practices. Contributors will revisit core assumptions and developmental paradigms, revealing how the literature often neglects new theory and empirical findings from other sectors and disciplines — and how, when it draws unreservedly from them, it can obscure tensions between individual development and systemic constraints, neglect the political dimensions of public leadership, and understate institutional contradictions.

This special issue will position IJPL at the forefront of addressing this gap by inviting theoretical advancements and rigorous, evidence-based research that interrogates prevailing assumptions and advances a more robust, theoretically informed understanding of leadership development in the public sector. It will provide both scholars and practitioners with insights necessary to design leadership development approaches that are scientifically grounded and contextually relevant.

SCOPE & THEME AREAS

We invite submissions addressing (but not limited to) the following themes:

1. Evidence and Effectiveness Gaps — What do we actually know works in public sector leadership development, and where does the evidence fall short?

2. Training Program Assumptions and Implications — What assumptions underpin existing leadership training programs, and what are their practical implications?

3. Theoretical Underdevelopment — Where are the theoretical gaps in public sector leadership development, and how can they be addressed?

4. Empirical and/or Contextual Blind Spots — What contexts, populations, or phenomena have been overlooked in existing empirical research?

5. Measurement and Evaluation Limitations — How are leadership development outcomes currently measured, and what are the limitations of existing evaluation approaches?

6. Neglect of Practice-Embedded Learning — How is informal, on-the-job, and practice-embedded learning underrepresented in leadership development frameworks?

7. The Science-to-Practice Gap — Why does a gap persist between leadership development research and its application in public sector practice?

8. Post-Training Development — What happens after formal training ends, and how is sustained development supported or hindered?

9. Ethical Considerations in Development Design — What ethical questions arise in the design and implementation of public sector leadership development programs?

10. Future Directions for Evidence-Based Public Sector Leadership Development — What research agendas and practical directions should guide the field going forward?

GUEST EDITOR

Richard T. Marcy University of Victoria, Canada ✉️ rtmarcy@uvic.ca

KEY DEADLINES & DATES

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

How to submit: Manuscripts must be submitted via ScholarOne Manuscripts, strictly following the journal's author guidelines.

Selecting the special issue: At the appropriate submission step, authors must select the special issue title from the drop-down menu in response to "Please select the issue you are submitting to."

Eligibility: Submitted articles must not have been previously published, nor should they be under consideration for publication elsewhere while under review.

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