PREFERENCES OF BEHAVIOR TYPES OF LEADERS IN THE PUBLIC SECTOR – CASE STUDY MINISTRY OF DEFENSE OF THE REPUBLIC OF SERBIA

The subject of this paper is to determine the preferred style of leadership behavior in public sector employees. A sample of employees of the Ministry of Defense (hereinafter MoD) was used to conduct the research. The Ministry of Defense, as an extremely organizationally and hierarchically defined entity, is interesting for researching the preferences of leadership style and the leader-follower relationship itself. Numerous leadership studies conducted in this type of organization have not been found in practice, and there is a reported scientific „gap” on this topic. The research aims to determine which the preferred leadership style in the MoD is and whether gender, age, and years of service influence the preferred leadership style and the leader-follower relationship. The empirical research was conducted in 2021 in the Military Social Security Fund of the Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Serbia on the cause of 51 respondents, using the survey method. The results of the research showed that the preferred leadership style among MoD employees is participatory leadership and that years of service and age have an impact on the choice of the preferred leadership style, as well as on the leader-follower relationship.