Leader empowering and upper echelons decision‐making: How and when does top managers' empowering leadership promote decision‐making speed and comprehensiveness in public organizations?

Abstract The efficiency of decision‐making in public organizations is a key area of interest for public administration scholars. Drawing on upper echelons theory, this study examines how top managers' empowering leadership affects decision‐making speed and comprehensiveness in public organizations. Through a three‐wave questionnaire survey involving 1149 TMT members from 133 public organizations in China, we tested the proposed theoretical model and hypotheses. Our findings reveal that top manager empowering leadership positively and indirectly influences decision‐making speed and comprehensiveness in public organizations, and through its effects on TMT behavioral integration. Furthermore, TMT work style similarity and TMT cognitive diversity can enhance and weaken the mediating relationships, respectively. Chinese Abstract 如何进行高质高效的战略决策是公共管理学者关注的重要话题。然而，从高层视角探讨公共组织有效决策过程的影响因素研究仍极度匮乏。基于高层梯队理论，本研究对来自中国教育部门高层管理团队的调查问卷进行数据分析，探讨了最高领导者授权型领导对公共组织决策速度和全面性的影响机制。结果表明，最高领导者授权型领导通过高管团队行动整合的中介作用对公共组织决策速度和全面性具有积极的间接影响，高管团队的工作方式相似性和认知多样性分别作为边界条件增强和削弱了上述中介关系。本研究为公共部门高层梯队理论与战略领导力研究做出了重要贡献。