Public Management and Governance Review

Relations-oriented leadership in practice: Empirical insights from Danish public managers

Sara Ravnkilde Nielsen — Thu, 10 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Social relationships within organizations are widely recognized in research as a vital resource for motivating and retaining engaged employees. Supporting these relationships is therefore a key managerial responsibility. Relations-oriented leadership offers considerable potential to foster such relationships, yet there remains a notable gap in practice-oriented research that explores how managers can concretely enact this leadership style. This article illustrates how relations-oriented leadership is practiced from the perspective of managers, offering empirical examples of leadership behaviors that strengthen social relationships. The analysis further shows how managers can navigate relational challenges through strategies involving physical presence, digital accessibility, and mental closeness. In addition, the article introduces a set of reflective questions designed to support practitioners in critically engaging with and refining their own relations-oriented leadership practices.

Misguiding donors and non-profit management by regulation: the role of ‘overhead’ costs

Marc Jegers — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Overhead costs and the concomitant efficiency notion are frequently used both to measure non-profit organisations’ performance in research and to select non-profit organisations worthy of donations. The main message of this article is that their concept and interpretation are not always correctly understood, even not by (influential) regulators imposing some potentially misleading disclosure rules. The arguments presented in this article depart from a short overview of the relevant cost concepts and their correct calculation, and contrasts them with the indicators usually looked at in practice and research. The article closes with some recommendations for non-profit organisations, potential donors, and governments.

One year in the game … and Welcome! to the new co-editor

Lisa Hohensinn, Jurgen Willems — Mon, 07 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this Editorial, Jurgen Willems welcomes Lisa Hohensinn as the new co-editor for Public Management and Governance Review (PMGR). Together they discuss the first reactions since the launch of the journal, future plans, and ambitions. They also reflect on intriguing topics that are currently or will increasingly be on the minds of practitioners and researchers in the field of public management and governance.

Patient-centered medicine: What do patients want?

Jurgen Willems, Schifteh Dohr-Hashemi, Ali I. Ozkes — Wed, 09 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this data report, we provide insight into Austrian public opinion on criteria that are considered important in interactions with hospitals and doctors. Data was collected in a sample of 2,800 respondents, between January and June 2025. The most important criteria are: (1) Clean health care service environment, (2) Professional interactions with health care professionals, and (3) Clear and sufficient information. We observe differences based on demographics such as age, gender, occupation, educational level, and migration background. However, differences remain approximately within one scale point on a 9-point survey scale.