Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-2plfb Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-22T05:33:25.089Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

How does servant leadership affect employee attitudes, behaviors, and psychological climates in a for-profit organizational context?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2015

Adnan Ozyilmaz*
Affiliation:
Department of Business Administration, Mustafa Kemal Universitesi, Tayfur Sokmen Kampusu IIBF, Hatay, Turkey
Serpil S Cicek
Affiliation:
Turkish Halk Bank, Iskenderun, Hatay, Turkey
*
Corresponding author: [email protected]

Abstract

This study investigates the effects of servant leadership on employee attitudes, behaviors, and psychological climates. In Study 1, the empirical results are based on data for 284 employees from 12 different organizations, and in Study 2, the results are based on data for 286 employees from 15 different organizations. The results show that servant leadership is positively and significantly related to organizational citizenship behavior, job satisfaction, and psychological climate. The relationship between servant leadership and job satisfaction is also partially mediated by psychological climate. With these results, this study contributes to research showing that leadership has both direct and mediating effects on employee attitudes and behaviors.

Type
Research Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press and Australian and New Zealand Academy of Management 2015 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Barbuto, J. E., & Wheeler, E. W. (2006). Scale development and construct clarification of servant leadership. Group & Organization Management, 31(3), 300326.Google Scholar
Berry, L. L., Parasuraman, A., & Zeithaml, V. A. (1994). Improving service quality in America: Lessons learned. Academy of Management Executive, 8(2), 3252.Google Scholar
Blau, P. M. (1964). Exchange and power in social life. New York, NY: John Wiley & Sons.Google Scholar
Braun, S., Peus, C., Weisweiler, S., & Frey, D. (2013). Transformational leadership, job satisfaction, and team performance: A multilevel mediation model of trust. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(1), 270283.Google Scholar
Brislin, R. W. (1980). Translation and content analysis of oral and written material. In H. C. Triandis & J. W. Berry (Eds.), Handbook of cross-cultural psychology (pp. 349444). Boston, MA: Allyn & Bacon.Google Scholar
Brown, S., & Leigh, T. W. (1996). A new look at psychological climate and its relationship to job involvement, effort, and performance. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(4), 358368.Google Scholar
Byrne, B. M. (1998). Structural equation modeling with LISREL, PRELIS, and SIMPLIS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.Google Scholar
Byrne, B. M. (2010). Structural equation modeling with AMOS: Basic concepts, applications, and programming. New York, NY: Routledge.Google Scholar
Carr, J. Z., Schmidt, A., Ford, J. K., & DeShon, R. P. (2003). Climate perceptions matter: A meta-analytic path analysis relating molar climate, cognitive and affective states, and individual level work outcomes. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(4), 605619.Google Scholar
Clark, A., Oswald, A., & Warr, P. (1996). Is job satisfaction U-shaped in age? Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 69(1), 5781.Google Scholar
Chu, H.-W. (2008). Employee perception of servant leadership and job satisfaction in a call center: A correlational study. Unpublished Doctoral Dissertation, University of Phoenix, St. Louis, MO.Google Scholar
Cohen, J. (1988). Statistical power analysis for the behavioral sciences. New York, NY: Academic Press.Google Scholar
Conway, J. M., & Lance, C. E. (2010). What reviewers should expect from authors regarding common method bias in organizational research. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(3), 325334.Google Scholar
Cropanzano, R., & Mitchell, M. S. (2005). Social exchange theory: An interdisciplinary review. Journal of Management, 31(6), 874900.Google Scholar
D’Amato, A., & Zijlstra, F. R. H. (2008). Psychological climate and individual factors as antecedents of work outcomes. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 17(1), 3354.Google Scholar
Davis, J. H., Schoorman, F. D., & Donaldson, L. (1997). Toward a stewardship theory of management. The Academy of Management Review, 22(1), 2047.Google Scholar
Ehrhart, M. G. (2004). Leadership and procedural justice climate as antecedents of unit-level organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychology, 57(1), 6194.Google Scholar
Erdogan, B., & Liden, R. C. (2002). Social exchanges in the workplace: A review of recent developments and future research directions in leader-member exchange theory. In L. L. Neider & C. A. Schriesheim (Eds.), Leadership (pp. 65114). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.Google Scholar
Gonzalez, J. V., & Garazo, T. G. (2008). Structural relationships between organizational service orientation, contact employee job satisfaction and citizenship behavior. International Journal of Service Industry Management, 17(1), 2350.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gouldner, A. W. (1960). The norm of reciprocity. American Sociological Review, 25(2), 161178.Google Scholar
Graham, J. W. (1991). Servant-leadership in organizations: Inspirational and moral. The Leadership Quarterly, 2(2), 105119.Google Scholar
Greenleaf, R. K. (1977). Servant leadership: A journey into the nature of legitimate power and greatness. Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press.Google Scholar
Greenleaf, R. K. (2008). The servant as leader. Westfield, IN: The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership.Google Scholar
Hellriegel, D., & Slocum, J. W. (1974). Organizational climate: Measures, research, and contingencies. Academy of Management Journal, 17(2), 255280.Google Scholar
Hoelter, J. W. (1983). The analysis of covariance structures: Goodness-of-fit indices. Sociological Methods & Research, 11, 325344.Google Scholar
Hu, J., & Liden, R. C. (2011). Antecedents of team potency and team effectiveness: An examination of goal and process clarity and servant leadership. Journal of Applied Psychology, 96(4), 851862.Google Scholar
Hulin, C. L., & Judge, T. A. (2003). Job attitudes. In W. C. Borman, D. R. Ilgen, & R. J. Klimoski (Eds.), Handbook of psychology (pp. 255276). Hoboken, NJ: Wiley.Google Scholar
Hunter, E. M., Mitchell, J., Neubert, M. J., Perry, S. J., Witt, L. A., Penney, L. M., & Weinberger, E. (2013). Servant leaders inspire servant followers: Antecedents and outcomes for employees and the organization. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(2), 316331.Google Scholar
Iacobucci, D., Saldanha, N., & Deng, X. (2007). A meditation on mediation: Evidence that structural equations models perform better than regressions. Journal of Consumer Psychology, 17(2), 140154.Google Scholar
Ilies, R., Nahrgang, J. D., & Morgeson, F. P. (2007). Leader-member exchange and citizenship behaviors: A meta-analysis. Journal of Applied Psychology, 92(1), 269277.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
James, L. A., & James, L. R. (1989). Integrating work perceptions: Explorations into measurement of meaning. Journal of Applied Psychology, 74(5), 739751.Google Scholar
James, L. A., & Jones, A. (1974). Organizational climate: A review of theory and research. Psychological Bulletin, 81(12), 10961112.Google Scholar
James, L. R., Choi, C. C., Ko, C. E., McNeil, P. K., Minton, M. K., Wright, M. A., & Kim, K. (2008). Organizational and psychological climate: A review of theory and research. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 17(1), 532.Google Scholar
Janssen, O., & van Yperen, N. W. (2004). Employees’ goal orientations, the quality of leader-member exchange, and the outcomes of job performance and job satisfaction. Academy of Management Journal, 47(3), 368384.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jones, A. P., & James, L. R. (1979). Psychological climate: Dimensions and relationships of individual and aggregated work environment perceptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 23(2), 201250.Google Scholar
Jöreskog, K. G., & Sörbom, D. (2006). LISREL 8.80 for windows [coputer software]. Lincolnwood, IL: Scientific Software International.Google Scholar
Judge, T. A., & Piccolo, R. F. (2004). Transformational and transactional leadership: A meta-analytic test of their relative validity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 89(5), 755768.Google Scholar
Judge, T. A., Piccolo, R. F., Podsakoff, N. P., Shaw, J. C., & Rich, B. (2010). The relationship between pay and job satisfaction: A meta-analysis of the literature. Journal of Vocational Behavior, 77(2), 157167.Google Scholar
Kelley, K., & Preacher, K. J. (2012). On effect size. Psychological Methods, 17(2), 137152.Google Scholar
Kline, R. B. (2011). Principles and practice of structural equation modeling. New York, NY: Guilford Press.Google Scholar
Kozlowski, S. W., & Klein, K. J. (2000). A multi-level approach to theory and research in organizations: Contextual, temporal, and emergent processes. In K. J. Klein & S. W. Kozlowski (Eds.), Multi-level theory, research, and methods in organizations: Foundations, extensions, and new directions (pp. 390). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Lewin, K., Lippitt, R., & White, R. (1939). Patterns of aggressive behavior in experimentally created social climates. Journal of Social Psychology, 10(2), 271299.Google Scholar
Liden, R. C. (2013). Servant leadership. In E. Kessler (Ed.), Encyclopedia of management theory (pp. 698–702). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage.Google Scholar
Liden, R. C., Panaccio, A., Meuser, J. D., Hu, J., Wayne, S. J. (2014a). Servant leadership: Antecedents, processes, and outcomes. In D. V. Day (Ed.), The Oxford handbook of leadership and organizations. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2014b). Servant leadership and serving culture: Influence on individual and unit performance. Academy of Management Journal, 57, 14341452.Google Scholar
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Zhao, H., & Henderson, D. (2008). Servant leadership: Development of a multidimensional measure and multi-level assessment. The Leadership Quarterly, 19(2), 161177.Google Scholar
Locke, E. A. (1976). The nature and causes of job satisfaction. In M. D. Dunnette (Ed.), Handbook of industrial and organizational psychology (pp. 12971349). Palo Alto, CA: Consulting Psychologists Press.Google Scholar
Lyon, H. L., & Ivanchevich, J. M. (1974). An exploratory investigation of organizational climate and job satisfaction in a hospital. Academy of Management Journal, 17(4), 635648.Google Scholar
Manz, C. C., & Sims, H. P. (1987). Leading workers to lead themselves: The external leadership of self-serving work teams. Administrative Science Quarterly, 32(1), 106128.Google Scholar
Masterson, S. S., Lewis, K., Goldman, B. M., & Taylor, M. S. (2000). Integrating justice and social exchange: The differing effects of fair procedures and treatment on work relationships. Academy of Management Journal, 43(4), 738748.Google Scholar
Mayer, D. M., Bardes, M., & Piccolo, R. F. (2008). Do servant-leaders help satisfy follower needs? An organizational justice perspective. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 17(2), 180197.Google Scholar
MacCallum, R. C., Browne, M. V., & Sugawara, H. M. (1996). Power analysis and determination of sample size for covariance structure modeling. Psychological Methods, 1(2), 130149.Google Scholar
MacKinnon, D. P., Coxe, S., & Baraldi, A. N. (2012). Guidelines for the investigation of mediating variables in business research. Journal of Business Psychology, 27, 114.Google Scholar
Organ, D. W. (1988). Organizational citizenship behavior: The good soldiers syndrome. Lexington, MA: D. C. Heath.Google Scholar
Organ, D. W. (1997). Organizational citizenship behavior: It’s construct clean-up time. Human Performance, 10(2), 8597.Google Scholar
Parker, C. P., Baltes, B. B., Young, S. A., Huff, J. W., Altmann, R. A., LaCost, H. A., & Roberts, J. E. (2003). Relationships between psychological climate perceptions and work outcomes: A meta-analytic review. Journal of Organizational Behavior, 24(4), 389416.Google Scholar
Parris, D. L., & Peachey, J. W. (2013). A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts. Journal of Business Ethics, 113(3), 377393.Google Scholar
Peterson, S. J., Galvin, B. M., & Lange, D. (2012). CEO servant leadership: Exploring executive characteristics and firm performance. Personnel Psychology, 65(3), 565596.Google Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., Lee, J. Y., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2003). Common method biases in behavioral research: A critical review of the literature and recommended remedies. Journal of Applied Psychology, 88(5), 879903.Google Scholar
Podsakoff, P. M., MacKenzie, S. B., & Podsakoff, N. P. (2012). Sources of method bias in social science research and recommendations on how to control it. Annual Review of Psychology, 63, 539569.Google Scholar
Preacher, K. J., & Kelley, K. (2011). Effect size measures for mediation models: Quantitative strategies for communicating indirect effects. Psychological Methods, 16(2), 93115.Google Scholar
Richardson, H., Simmering, M. J., & Sturman, M. C. (2009). A tale of three perspectives: Examining post hoc statistical techniques for detection and correction of common method variance. Organizational Research Methods, 12(4), 762800.Google Scholar
Robert K. Greenleaf Center (1991). Servant-leadership resources available from the Robert K. Greenleaf Center. Indianapolis, IN: The Robert K. Greenleaf Center.Google Scholar
Rogg, K. L., Schmidt, D. B., Shull, C., & Schmitt, N. (2001). Human resource practices, organizational climate, and customer satisfaction. Journal of Management, 27(4), 431449.Google Scholar
Schneider, B., Ehrhart, M. G., Mayer, D. M., Saltz, J. L., & Niles-Jolly, K. (2005). Understanding organization-customer links in service settings. Academy of Management Journal, 48(6), 10171032.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schulte, M., Ostroff, C., & Kinicki, A. J. (2006). Organizational climate systems and psychological climate perceptions. A cross-level study of climate-satisfaction relationships. Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 79(4), 645671.Google Scholar
Settoon, R. P., Bennett, N., & Liden, R. C. (1996). Social exchange in organizations: Perceived organizational support, leader-member exchange, and employee reciprocity. Journal of Applied Psychology, 81(3), 219227.Google Scholar
Sobel, M. E. (1982). Asymptotic intervals for indirect effects in structural equations models. In S. Leinhart (Ed.), Sociological methodology (pp. 290312). San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.Google Scholar
Sun, J.-M., & Wang, B. (2009). Servant leadership in China: Conceptualization and measurement. In W. H. Mobley, Y. Wang, & M. Li (Eds.), Advances in global leadership (pp. 321344). Bingley, UK: Emerald Group.Google Scholar
Sun, P. Y. T. (2013). The servant identity: Influences on the cognition and behavior of servant leaders. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(4), 544557.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Udani, Z. A. S., & Lorenzo-Molo, C. F. (2013). When servant becomes leader: The corazon C. aquino success story as a beacon for business leaders. Journal of Business Ethics, 116(2), 373391.Google Scholar
van Dierendonck, D. (2011). Servant leadership: A review and synthesis. Journal of Management, 37(4), 12281261.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
van Dierendonck, D., & Nuijten, I. (2011). The servant leadership survey: Development and validation of a multidimensional measure. Journal of Business and Psychology, 26(3), 249267.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
van Knippenberg, D., van Knippenberg, B., De Cremer, D., & Hogg, M. A. (2004). Leadership, self, and identity: A review and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 15(6), 825856.Google Scholar
Vey, M. A., & Campbell, J. P. (2004). In-role or extra-role organizational citizenship behavior: Which are we measuring? Human Performance, 17(1), 119135.Google Scholar
Walumbwa, F. O., Avolio, B. J., Gardner, W. L., Wernsing, T. S., & Peterson, S. J. (2008). Authentic leadership: Development and validation of a theory-based measure. Journal of Management, 34(1), 89126.Google Scholar
Walumbwa, F. O., Hartnell, C. A., & Oke, A. (2010). Servant leadership, procedural justice climate, service climate, employee attitudes, and organizational citizenship behavior: A cross-level investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology, 95(3), 517529.Google Scholar
Warr, P., Cook, J., & Wall, T. (1979). Scales for the measurement of some work attitudes and aspects of psychological well-being. Journal of Occupational Psychology, 52(2), 129148.Google Scholar
Wayne, S. J., Shore, L. M., & Liden, R. C. (1997). Perceived organizational support and leader-member exchange: A social exchange perspective. Academy of Management Journal, 40(1), 82111.Google Scholar
Williams, L. J., & Anderson, S. E. (1991). Job satisfaction and organizational commitment as predictors of organizational citizenship behavior and in-role behaviors. Journal of Management, 17(3), 601617.Google Scholar
Williams, S., & Shiaw, W. T. (1999). Mood and organizational citizenship behavior: The effects of positive effect on employee organizational citizenship behavior intentions. The Journal of Psychology, 133(6), 656668.Google Scholar
Yukl, G. A. (2006). Leadership in organizations. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson/Prentice Hall.Google Scholar
Zalesny, M. D., & Ford, J. K. (1990). Extending the social information processing perspective: New links to attitudes, behaviors, and perceptions. Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes, 47(2), 205246.Google Scholar
Zhang, H., Kwan, H. K., Everett, A. M., & Jian, Z. (2012). Servant leadership, organizational identification, and work-to-family enrichment: The moderating role of work climate for sharing family concerns. Human Resource Management, 51(5), 747.Google Scholar