Servant Leadership, Work Engagement, and Public Service Motivation in the Chilean Public Administration from a Gender Perspective

Chile faces an institutional context marked by public distrust and increasing demands for legitimacy in public management. In this scenario, this study aimed to examine, within the framework of the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) theory and the HERO model, the relationships between servant leadership, public service motivation, work engagement, and healthy organizational outcomes in the Chilean public sector, considering the moderating effect of the supervisor’s gender. We used a sample of 428 employees from 22 public institutions, with validated instruments to assess servant leadership, public service motivation, work engagement, and organizational outcomes. Structural equation modeling confirmed the five proposed hypotheses: servant leadership was positively related to public service motivation and work engagement, and work engagement was positively associated with healthy organizational outcomes, showing partial mediation effects among these variables. No moderating effects of the supervisor’s gender were found. This study provides empirical evidence on the motivational mechanisms operating within the public sector and highlights the relevance of servant leadership as a key social resource for fostering motivation, work engagement, and organizational well-being within the specific context of Chilean public institutions included in the study.