IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v17y2025i5p2248-d1605624.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Sustainable Leadership and Conflict Management: Insights from Greece’s Public Sector

Author

Listed:
  • Kyriaki Aravidou

    (Department of Early Childhood Education, University of Western Macedonia, 53100 Florina, Greece)

  • Sotiria Triantari

    (Department of International and European Studies, University of Macedonia, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece)

  • Ioannis Zervas

    (Department of Applied Informatics, University of Macedonia, 54636 Thessaloniki, Greece)

Abstract

This study investigates the relationship between sustainable leadership styles and conflict management strategies within the context of Greek Public Sector. Specifically, it examines how collaborative, transformational, and authoritarian leadership styles impact workplace conflict resolution. The research adopts a case study methodology, focusing on Departments of Public Works in Greece, where data were collected through questionnaires. The analysis involved quantitative methods, including exploratory factor analysis (EFA), to examine the relationship between leadership styles and conflict management techniques. Results indicate that collaborative leadership is strongly associated with higher employee satisfaction and more effective conflict resolution, particularly in organizations with flat hierarchical structures. Transformational leadership fosters trust and open communication, which further enhance conflict resolution. On the other hand, authoritarian leadership styles correlate with increased workplace tension, lower satisfaction, and less effective conflict management, especially in high power-distance environments. The study also highlights cultural factors, such as the Greek emphasis on interpersonal relationships, as critical influences on leadership effectiveness. These findings underline the need for culturally adaptive and sustainable leadership strategies and provide practical recommendations for promoting harmony and productivity in Greek organizations.

Suggested Citation

  • Kyriaki Aravidou & Sotiria Triantari & Ioannis Zervas, 2025. "Sustainable Leadership and Conflict Management: Insights from Greece’s Public Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 17(5), pages 1-25, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:5:p:2248-:d:1605624
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2248/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/17/5/2248/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Elia Pizzolitto & Ida Verna & Michelina Venditti, 2023. "Authoritarian leadership styles and performance: a systematic literature review and research agenda," Management Review Quarterly, Springer, vol. 73(2), pages 841-871, June.
    2. Janet Kottke & Kathie Pelletier, 2013. "Measuring and Differentiating Perceptions of Supervisor and Top Leader Ethics," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 113(3), pages 415-428, March.
    3. Nitin Patwa & Daisy Mui Hung Kee, 2024. "Sustainability Starts with HR: Exploring Green HRM Practices in the UAE," Springer Books, in: M. Y. Yusliza & D.W.S. Renwick (ed.), Green Human Resource Management, pages 213-229, Springer.
    4. Aymen Asif & Kashif Rathore, 2021. "Behavioral Drivers of Performance in Public-Sector Organizations: A Literature Review," SAGE Open, , vol. 11(1), pages 21582440219, February.
    5. Ki Baek Jung & Seung-Wan Kang & Suk Bong Choi, 2020. "Empowering Leadership, Risk-Taking Behavior, and Employees’ Commitment to Organizational Change: The Mediated Moderating Role of Task Complexity," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-18, March.
    6. Ioannis Zervas & Emmanouil Stiakakis, 2024. "Economic Sustainable Development through Digital Skills Acquisition: The Role of Human Resource Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-25, September.
    7. Gunkel, Marjaana & Schlaegel, Christopher & Taras, Vas, 2016. "Cultural values, emotional intelligence, and conflict handling styles: A global study," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 51(4), pages 568-585.
    8. Guoquan Chen & Chunhong Liu & Dean Tjosvold, 2005. "Conflict Management for Effective Top Management Teams and Innovation in China," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 42(2), pages 277-300, March.
    9. Shoeb Ahmad, 2024. "GHRM Process: Step Towards Sustainability," Springer Books, in: M. Y. Yusliza & D.W.S. Renwick (ed.), Green Human Resource Management, pages 43-56, Springer.
    10. Michael Owusu-Kyei & Yusheng Kong & Michael Owusu Akomeah & Stephen Owusu Afriyie, 2023. "Assessing the Influence of Total Quality Management on Customer Satisfaction in the Telecom Industry: A TQM–SERVQUAL Perspective," Businesses, MDPI, vol. 3(2), pages 1-21, April.
    11. Aspasia Goula & Maria-Aggeliki Stamouli & Dimitra Latsou & Vasiliki Gkioka & Niki Kyriakidou, 2021. "Learning Organizational Culture in Greek Public Hospitals," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(4), pages 1-14, February.
    12. Samma Faiz Rasool & Mansi Wang & Minze Tang & Amir Saeed & Javed Iqbal, 2021. "How Toxic Workplace Environment Effects the Employee Engagement: The Mediating Role of Organizational Support and Employee Wellbeing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(5), pages 1-17, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Veltrop, D.B. & Hermes, C.L.M. & Postma, T.J.B.M. & de Haan, J., 2012. "A tale of two factions," Research Report 12001-HRM&OB, University of Groningen, Research Institute SOM (Systems, Organisations and Management).
    2. Olson, Bradley J. & Bao, Yongjian & Parayitam, Satyanarayana, 2007. "Strategic decision making within Chinese firms: The effects of cognitive diversity and trust on decision outcomes," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 42(1), pages 35-46, March.
    3. repec:dgr:rugsom:12001-hrmob is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Ka Chan & Xu Huang & Peng Ng, 2008. "Managers’ conflict management styles and employee attitudinal outcomes: The mediating role of trust," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 277-295, June.
    5. Zhang, Yameng & Sharma, Piyush & Xu, Yekun & Zhan, Wu, 2021. "Challenges in internationalization of R&D teams: Impact of foreign technocrats in top management teams on firm innovations," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 128(C), pages 728-741.
    6. Reade, Carol & Lee, Hyun-Jung, 2016. "Does ethnic conflict impede or enable employee innovation behavior? The alchemic role of collaborative conflict management," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 65613, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    7. Sophia Anastasiou & Konstantinos Ntokas, 2024. "Leadership and Quality Enhancement in Secondary Education: A Comparative Analysis of TQM and EFQM," Merits, MDPI, vol. 4(4), pages 1-13, December.
    8. Alfred Wong & Lu Wei & Dean Tjosvold, 2014. "Business and regulators partnerships: Government transformational leadership for constructive conflict management," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 31(2), pages 497-522, June.
    9. Leonidas C. Leonidou & Bilge Aykol & Jorma Larimo & Lida Kyrgidou & Paul Christodoulides, 2021. "Enhancing International Buyer-Seller Relationship Quality and Long-Term Orientation Using Emotional Intelligence: The Moderating Role of Foreign Culture," Management International Review, Springer, vol. 61(3), pages 365-402, June.
    10. Uwe Jirjahn & Johannes Kiess, 2024. "Does Employee Representation Foster Workplace Democracy?," Research Papers in Economics 2024-13, University of Trier, Department of Economics.
    11. Luo, Kun & Lim, Edwin KiaYang & Qu, Wen & Zhang, Xuan, 2021. "Board cultural diversity, government intervention and corporate innovation effectiveness: Evidence from China," Journal of Contemporary Accounting and Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(2).
    12. Sara Saggese & Fabrizia Sarto & Riccardo Viganò, 2021. "Do women directors contribute to R&D? The role of critical mass and expert power," Journal of Management & Governance, Springer;Accademia Italiana di Economia Aziendale (AIDEA), vol. 25(2), pages 593-623, June.
    13. Weihong Guo, 2025. "Conflict resolution in intercultural communication: strategies for managing cultural conflicts," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 12(1), pages 1-10, December.
    14. Dean Tjosvold & Ann Peng & Yi Chen & Fang Su, 2008. "Business and government interdependence in China: Cooperative goals to develop industries and the marketplace," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 25(2), pages 225-249, June.
    15. Rasool, Samma Faiz & Zaman, Shah & Jehan, Noor & Chin, Tachia & Khan, Saleem & Zaman, Qamar uz, 2022. "Investigating the role of the tech industry, renewable energy, and urbanization in sustainable environment: Policy directions in the context of developing economies," Technological Forecasting and Social Change, Elsevier, vol. 183(C).
    16. Miao, Chao & Humphrey, Ronald H. & Qian, Shanshan, 2018. "A cross-cultural meta-analysis of how leader emotional intelligence influences subordinate task performance and organizational citizenship behavior," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 53(4), pages 463-474.
    17. Himani Mishra & M. Venkatesan, 2023. "Psychological Well-being of Employees, its Precedents and Outcomes: A Literature Review and Proposed Framework," Management and Labour Studies, XLRI Jamshedpur, School of Business Management & Human Resources, vol. 48(1), pages 7-41, February.
    18. Uzuegbunam, Ikenna & Geringer, J. Michael, 2021. "Culture, connectedness, and international adoption of disruptive innovation," Journal of International Management, Elsevier, vol. 27(1).
    19. Nicola Breugst & Holger Patzelt & Dean A. Shepherd, 2020. "When is Effort Contagious in New Venture Management Teams? Understanding the Contingencies of Social Motivation Theory," Journal of Management Studies, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 57(8), pages 1556-1588, December.
    20. Cristina Civilotti & Sabrina Berlanda & Laura Iozzino, 2021. "Hospital-Based Healthcare Workers Victims of Workplace Violence in Italy: A Scoping Review," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(11), pages 1-17, May.
    21. Christopher Kurzhals & Lorenz Graf‐Vlachy & Andreas König, 2020. "Strategic leadership and technological innovation: A comprehensive review and research agenda," Corporate Governance: An International Review, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 28(6), pages 437-464, November.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:17:y:2025:i:5:p:2248-:d:1605624. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.