Leading public sector networks: An empirical examination of integrative leadership behaviors Chris Silvia 1 , Michael McGuire ⁎ School of Public and Environmental Affairs, Indiana University, 1315 East 10th Street, Bloomington, IN 47405, United States article info abstract The literature has often suggested that network leadership is different from leadership in hierarchical/single-agency structures. While this difference has been assumed, relatively little research has been conducted to determine whether such a distinction between network and hierarchical leadership actually exists. This study addresses this gap in the literature using data from 417 public sector leaders. We compared the leadership behaviors exhibited by a leader in their government agency with the behaviors exhibited by that same individual while leading his or her network. The leadership behaviors were classified into one of three categories common in the leadership literature. The results indicate that while the frequency of organization-oriented behaviors vary widely between the agency and network contexts, leaders in their networks focus more on people-oriented behaviors and less on task-oriented behaviors when compared to leading their agency. © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Keywords: Networks Collaboration Leadership behaviors 1. Introduction A hallmark of research on collective action across sectors and geographic boundaries is the multitude of theoretical perspectives, conceptual frameworks, and empirical approaches employed to explain the topic. Researchers in various disciplines, including public administration, political science, sociology, organizational behavior, and economics, have studied multi-actor contexts, resulting in many rich literatures, some that merge nicely but, unfortunately, many others that tend to speak past one another. As Huxham (2003) argues, “even the most basic terminology is subject to varied interpretations and there seems to be little agreement over usage of terms such as ‘partnership,’‘alliance,’‘collaboration,’‘network,’ or ‘inter-organizational relations’” (402). Many basic questions have been asked: What are the antecedents to or determinants of collaboration (McGuire & Silvia, 2010; Thomson & Perry, 2006; Wood & Gray, 1991)? What motivates organizations to join multi-actor networks (Agranoff, 2007)? How do collaborative structures evolve/dissolve over time (Human & Provan, 2000)? What are the barriers encountered by networks and how do they overcome them (McGuire & Agranoff, 2007)? What factors influence the performance of collaborative arrangements, and how do such arrangements affect the performance of the projects and programs for which collaboration occurs (Meier & O'Toole, 2003)? The research question that is the 800 lb gorilla in the room remains largely unaddressed: What is leadership in multi-actor settings? What behaviors characterize such a leader and, most important, how does leadership in these types of settings differ from leadership in single-agency contexts, if at all? Any discussion of action in multi-actor settings must necessarily begin with answers to these questions, yet few researchers have actually sought to define, identify, and explain leadership in such settings. Furthermore, there is no study that addresses these questions simply by studying how a large number of leaders lead their home The Leadership Quarterly 21 (2010) 264–277 ⁎ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 812 855 0563; fax: +1 812 855 7802. E-mail addresses: cesilvia@indiana.edu (C. Silvia), mcguirem@indiana.edu (M. McGuire). 1 Tel.: +1 812 855 7980; fax: +1 812 855 7802. 1048-9843/$ – see front matter © 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2010.01.006 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect The Leadership Quarterly journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/leaqua