BUREAUCRATIC LEADERSHIP AND PUBLIC SERVICE QUALITY IN A LOCAL TOURISM AGENCY

Abstract

This study examines the effect of bureaucratic leadership on public service quality at the North Gorontalo Regency Tourism Office. A quantitative cross-sectional census involved all 34 employees and used two 10-item Likert scales. The raw response matrices were rechecked and analyzed through descriptive statistics, item-response proportions, reliability analysis, Pearson and Spearman correlation, and simple linear regression. Bureaucratic leadership and public service quality received high mean total scores (46.74 and 46.59 of 50). Openness to employee input was the strongest leadership item (M = 4.94), whereas encouragement of service performance and professional motivation were the lowest-rated leadership items (both M = 4.41). For service quality, completion time as promised was highest (M = 4.97), while responsibility in resolving user needs was lowest (M = 4.29). The scales showed good internal consistency (alpha = .846 and .823). Bureaucratic leadership was positively related to public service quality (r = .611; Spearman rho = .624; p < .001) and explained 37.3% of its variance, F(1, 32) = 19.016, p < .001. The study contributes detailed evidence from a local tourism bureaucracy and identifies supervision, employee motivation, service responsibility, complaint handling, and measurement refinement as priorities for improvement.