E-ISSN : 2963-4946

Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 https://ajosh.org/

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1321

Transformational Leadership in Public Sector Innovation: A

Bibliometric Analysis

Setiyatmo Adi Nugroho

*, Muh Azis Muslim

Universitas Indonesia Depok, Indonesia

E-mail: setiyatmo.adi@ui.ac.id

, azism@gmail.com

*Correspondence: setiyatmo.adi@ui.ac.id

KEYWORDS

ABSTRACT

transformational

leadership; Innovation;

public sector; Publication.

People and organisations must adapt to rapidly evolving

technology and information trends but often face limited

resources. Therefore, it is essential to apply innovation to

various sectors, including the public sector, which is known

for the many regulations that surround it. Innovation is seen

as a source of change, growth, and organisational

effectiveness, but leadership factors have a dominant impact

and are fundamentally critical to success in achieving it. This

study aims to see trends in scientific publications (journals)

regarding transformational leadership in public sector

innovation, the most influential journals and authors, and

potential future research topics. This study uses bibliometric

analysis taken from the database of highly reputable

journals, Scopus, by looking at the results from the Scopus

web on data filtered according to criteria and visualisation

and analysis of data using the VOS viewer application and

biblioshin application. Based on the study results, the

research topic of Transformational Leadership in Public

Sector Innovation is still not discussed in Scopus-indexed

journal publications. The data obtained also shows that in the

middle of the last five years, the topic shows the significance

of increasing the number of publications, which increasingly

shows the interest in the theme of transformational

leadership in public sector innovation with the times.

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Introduction

The rapid development of technology and information has also encouraged public

expectations of public and private organisations to provide better services. This is

certainly a challenge when the demands for change are increasingly massive while facing

limited resource conditions. Faced with conditions of limitation also demands the

fulfilment of the organisation's values of effectiveness and efficiency. The demands of

these changes adjust to the trends and conditions of the times, which are often very easy

and fast to change. Therefore, these expectations are challenging to meet without

adjustments to the organisation's way and work pattern.

Setiyatmo Adi Nugroho, Muh Azis Muslim

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1322

The direction of organisational change to adjust conditions and trends cannot be

separated from the desire to create future conditions that will be better than in the past.

Today, innovation is becoming increasingly popular and echoed in various lifelines.

Innovation is an idea, practice, or object considered new by individuals or groups.

Innovation is also defined as introducing new elements in knowledge, organisation, and

management, as well as even processes and skills, into services that show changes in the

past (Brown & Osborne, 2012). Many public and private sector leaders view innovation

as a source of change, growth, and organisational effectiveness.

The results of WIPO research (2023) from 132 world countries and 100 science and

technology clusters record many critical indicators of technological progress that show

positive trends amid various opportunities and challenges of the innovation environment.

Although many studies mention the positive impact of innovation on various aspects and

essential values in organisations, its emergence is not immediately realised. The growth

and development of innovation require various triggers. Innovation requires group and

organisational environmental support, such as management support, decision-making

participation, and team support for innovation. In an organisational environment,

leadership factors have a significant and fundamental impact and are determinants of

success that ensure effectiveness and innovation (Dharmawan et al., 2023).

Leadership is understood as a person's ability to change the behaviour of others as

he wants. Therefore, the vision and mission of a leader in an organisation reflect the goals

to be achieved and are established as core values in organisational actions and decisions.

Leaders with all the authority they have the opportunity to create and foster innovation.

These opportunities can be applied to various policies and programs. (Brown & Osborne,

2012) added that in addition to cultural and communication issues, leadership problems

must be addressed to support the successful implementation of change and an

environment full of innovation. On the other hand, effective leadership with the capacity

to encourage executives to develop management skills and leadership styles will

contribute to the growth of innovation.

Although innovation is standard in the private sector, it does not mean that it cannot

be applied to the public sector. The public sector or government is often attached to

various rules that give it no room to do things differently than usual. Even so, public

sector innovation has been known since 1980 in the UK through reinventing government

or New Public Management. The nature of public organisations has also changed due to

the instability of the social and political environment and the confronting of resource

scarcity.

Given the diversity of rules in the public sector, it is crucial to pay attention to

leadership in organisations to improve organisational performance. Transformational

leadership is critical because it enables organisational innovation (Rahayu & Jumiati,

2023). The behaviour of transformational leaders positively influences innovation

orientation. Various studies on transformational leadership in innovation have been

widely conducted. However, research on bibliometric analysis of transformational

Transformational Leadership in Public Sector Innovation: A Bibliometric Analysis

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1323

leadership in innovation in public sector organisations is still scarce. The use of

bibliometric methods is considered very effective in providing knowledge about variables

in the grand theory of specific fields of science that have not been studied much in

research. Furthermore, the bibliometric method can also explain the written

communication process and its development in a scientific discipline (Zakiyyah et al.,

2022).

Research (Purbohastuti, 2021) entitled "Bibliometric Analysis of Leadership

Research" discusses leadership and the development of leadership science in the 5.0 era.

Then, a study by (Idris & Zairoh, 2022) entitled "A Bibliometric Analysis of Servant

Leadership for Future Research" discusses Servant Leadership using a Scopus database.

The research mentioned does not explicitly address transformational leadership in public

sector innovation. Related to this, the bibliometric study that the researcher conveyed

became a novelty or novelty in the research conducted.

Based on the explanation the researcher has submitted, this study aims to analyse

the scientific literature in answering several questions: 1) What is the trend of scientific

publications (journals) regarding transformational leadership in public sector innovation?

2) What journals are most influential?; 3) Who is the most influential author?; 4) Potential

research topics for the future?

In the public sector, innovation grows when knowledge of problems and solutions

meets individuals who can and are motivated to act, requiring the support of regulatory,

legal, and bureaucratic processes that support creativity and innovation development

(Daglio et al., 2014). Therefore, in line with the literature found, it can be said that

leadership is the most dominant factor in fostering innovation in organisations. The

climate in the organisation primarily determines the drive for innovation, that is, how

conditions in the organisation support the growth of initiatives to innovate. Innovation

experts have noted that support from the highest management level in the organisation is

one of the factors supporting the growth of innovation.

Transformational leadership is an approach to leadership that focuses on the leader's

efforts to provide inspiration and motivation while changing team members innovatively

to achieve higher performance (Siregar & Kemalasari, 2023). Transformational

leadership is tasked with aligning the interests of the organisation and its members, which

can be directive or participatory. A transformational leadership approach motivates team

members to exceed expectations, continually evolve, increase confidence, and prioritise

the unit's or organisation's interests over personal interests by combining charisma,

intellectual stimulation, and attention to individual needs. Transformational leaders have

a strong sense of intrinsic value and conceptual systems, where the leader provides a clear

vision for subordinates, stimulates awareness of the importance of the task performed,

builds a climate of mutual trust, motivates to put forward the interests of the organisation

which ultimately achieves performance beyond expectations (Zhu & Huang, 2023).

Public sector transformational leadership is a model with advantages in restoring,

maintaining, and building public trust in government (Yusuf et al., 2023).

Setiyatmo Adi Nugroho, Muh Azis Muslim

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1324

Research Methods

This research is a bibliometric analysis research. Bibliometric comes from Greek,

which combines the words biblion, meaning "book," and metron, meaning

"measurement" (Zakiyyah et al., 2022). Bibliometrics is also understood as an instrument

to ensure objective publication data, which is often used as measurement data and can

help solve things discussed (Mokhnacheva & Tsvetkova, 2020). Kessler (1963) generally

revealed that bibliometric analysis is used to determine science development from

reputable scientific publications (Barsei & Atmoko, 2023).

Research on journal databases is carried out through the following stages: First,

researchers pull data from Scopus based on predetermined keywords; Second, researchers

limit the year range, subject area, document type, and source type; Third, researchers limit

journals with English-language categories; Fourth, the researcher obtained 18 documents

that had been included in the search criteria; and Fifth, as a final step is done by looking

at the analyse results from the Scopus web on data that has been filtered according to

criteria; visualisation and analysis of data using VOSviewer application and Biblioshany

application.

Results and Discussions

Trends in scientific publications (journals)

Based on searching data accessed from Scopus with the query, 78 articles fit the

specified criteria. According to the abovementioned criteria, researchers have input the

year range component, subject area, document type, and source type. Related to the year

range, researchers had intended to carry out filtration from 2003 to 2023 (a period of 20

years), but the search results pointed to a time range of 2011-2023. This is because, over

the past 20 years, Scopus-indexed research journals that discuss the topic of

transformational leadership in public sector innovation only appeared in mid-2011.

Year

Documents

Documents by year

2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023

Transformational Leadership in Public Sector Innovation: A Bibliometric Analysis

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1325

Graph 1 Number of Publications on Transformational Leadership in Public Sector

Innovation 2011-2023

Graph 1, 2011, is the beginning of the existence of a Scopus-indexed research

journal that discusses the topic of transformational leadership in public sector innovation.

However, the trend dimmed in 2012-2014 after its first appearance. Then, the trend moves

dynamically, and in 2023, it reaches its highest point, where the number of Scopus-

indexed journals that discuss the topic in question reaches 5. This shows that in the last

five years, transformational leadership has been very relevant and has become one of the

determining factors in the success of organisational innovation, especially in the public

sector.

Most influential journal publications

A search of data from highly reputable Scopus journals found that the most

influential journal on transformational leadership in public sector innovation was the

Government Information Quarterly journal, with 101 citations. This is evidenced by the

high number of citations or citations that refer to the journal. In second place occupied

the journal Public Personnel Management with a position of 99 citations, then followed

by Public Management Review (90), Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental

Management (31), Sustainability (30), and so on. In the 10th ranking journal for the

category of the highest number of citations, the Journal of Community College Journal

of Research and Practice is in tenth place, only cited once. This can happen and is ranked

10th in the journal with the most citation intensity because the number of studies on

related topics is minimal (see Table 1 and Graph 2).

Table 1

Top 10 Most Influential Journals

Journal

Number of

Citations

Government Information Quarterly

101

Public Personnel Management

Public Management Review

Corporate Social Responsibility and Environmental

Management

Sustainability

Business Strategy and the Environment

International Journal of Public Sector Management

Journal of Open Innovation Technology, market, and

Complexity

Police Practice and Research

Community College Journal of Research and Practice

Setiyatmo Adi Nugroho, Muh Azis Muslim

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1326

Graph 2: Top 10 Most Influential Journals (Most Cited)

As for the ten most influential articles, in detail as follows:

Table 2

Top 10 Most Cited Journal Articles

Chart 3: Top 10 Most Cited Authors

Criteria regarding country limitations are not included in the search criteria, so the

data displayed is an accumulation of research journal publications from all countries

indexed by Scopus with a predetermined theme. The data that has been drawn shows that

China is the most productive country publishing Scopus-indexed journal publications that

discuss the topic of transformational leadership in public sector innovation with a total of

4 journals, followed by Indonesia with the achievement of 3 journals. South Korea also

achieved the same achievement (3 journals) in Indonesia. Qatar and the United States

achieved the fourth and fifth ranks, with the same number of achievements, namely two

journals. Furthermore, it can be seen through the following graph (Graph 4):

Transformational Leadership in Public Sector Innovation: A Bibliometric Analysis

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1329

Chart 4

Identification of Publication Productivity of Scopus Indexed Journals by Country

When viewed from these data, there are ten countries with the highest contribution

in productivity to transformational leadership research topics in public sector innovation

in Scopus-indexed journals. The list is still dominated by developed countries (70%,

consisting of South Korea, Qatar, United States, Australia, Danish, Malaysia, and the

Netherlands) compared to developing countries (30%, consisting of China, Indonesia, and

Ghana). On the other hand, Indonesia ranks second in the research topic. It can also

provide an overview and inspiration for other researchers to continue to develop

transformational leadership research topics in public sector innovation.

Potential research topics for the future

The results of the CSV file pulled from Scopus are further processed through the

VOSviewer application to see Network Visualization, Overlay Visualization, and Density

Visualization. From the results of processing on VOSviewer, it can be seen that four

clusters are often discussed, namely transformational leadership, innovation, leadership,

and sustainable development. The blue cluster, which has almost the exact visualisation,

shows a strong relationship between innovation and transformational leadership, with

closer research topics on performance and organisational innovation. In the leadership

cluster, topics of interest are related to organisational commitment and transactional

leadership. From the university sector cluster, they are showing the direction of relations

with public sector topics: the United States and Qatar. Meanwhile, the last cluster, namely

sustainable development, has a close relationship with the topic of environmental

regulatory pressure, green transformational leadership, and radical green innovation (see

Figure 2).

Setiyatmo Adi Nugroho, Muh Azis Muslim

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1330

Figure 2: Overview of the relationship between keywords

The following image (Figure 3) shows the keyword grouping by year. VOSviewer

indicates these colour categories as four clusters. The blue colour shows various keywords

often used until 2019, such as leadership, organisational commitment, university sector,

United States, and Qatar. Meanwhile, the green colour in the transformational leadership

cluster shows various keywords often used until mid-2021, such as transactional

leadership, sustainable development, transactional leadership, and the public sector. In

2022, the keywords refer to green transformational leaders, environmental regulatory

press, and radical green innovation. Finally, in 2023, the keyword performance will be a

word that increases the intensity of its use in research topics.

Figure 3: Overview of keywords by period

From the VOSviewer analysis in the Density Visualization menu, it is shown

through the following image:

Transformational Leadership in Public Sector Innovation: A Bibliometric Analysis

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1331

Figure 4: Overview of keyword density

Density visualisation shows the density of keywords used in research with

indications of light and dark colours. Keywords that occupy bright lights indicate the

intensity of use in transformational leadership research topics in public sector innovation.

Conversely, keywords that occupy low light indicate that they are rarely used in research

on the topic.

The dominance of keywords is shown by the words transformational leadership and

innovation, where both show the same occurrences, namely 10. The next position is

indicated by the word leadership, which has occurrences of 7. This shows that these

keywords are most often used in research. The words performance, organisational

innovation, organisational commitment, transactional leadership, and the public sector

still have low occurrences, which is 2. The low occurrences indicate that the keyword is

rarely used in research on transformational leadership in public sector innovation.

Therefore, keywords that have a low occurrence rate and are shown through their

placement in dim light, then these keywords can be raised into themes with the potential

for the value of future research novelty in the development of innovation leadership

transformation studies in the public sector.

Furthermore, the study used the Biblioshiny application to see the word cloud of

various studies filtered according to predetermined criteria. Of the 18 journal publications

found, words that often appear in publications are illustrated as follows (Figure 5):

Setiyatmo Adi Nugroho, Muh Azis Muslim

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1332

Figure 5: Wordcloud Between Keywords

Visualisation in the Biblioshiny application shows that leadership and innovation

dominate, as the words appear to be the largest size. It also reinforces the results of

previous VOSviewer applications, which, in similar words, indicate the dominance of

their use in transformational leadership research and innovation in the public sector.

Conclusion

The analysis used a combination of results from the Scopus web, VOSviewer, and

Biblioshiny applications accessed on January 1, 2024. The data shows that 2011 was the

beginning of the publication of research publications in Scopus-indexed journals that

discuss the topic of transformational leadership in innovation in the public sector.

Although the trend of research topics had dimmed until the end of 2023, this topic showed

significant numbers and even the highest since 2011.

Searching data from highly reputable journals through Scopus, the most influence

on this topic is occupied by the Government Information Quarterly Journal, with the

number of citations reaching 101. The most influential author writing this research topic

is Khan, NA, from China. The results of the observations on the Density Visualization

tab provide an overview of keywords that have not been widely used in research, such as

performance, organisational innovation, organisational commitment, public sector,

university sector, sustainable development, environmental regulatory press, and green

transformation leaders. Wordcloud visualisation in the Biblioshiny application shows the

dominance of the most frequently used keywords on the theme: leadership and

innovation. Therefore, novelty can be inspired by keywords that occupy low light (low

occurrence) and can be used as a research theme for transformational leadership of public

sector innovation.

Transformational Leadership in Public Sector Innovation: A Bibliometric Analysis

Asian Journal of Social and Humanities, Vol. 2 No. March 6, 2024 1333

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