The Impact of Servant Leadership on Follower's Behaviors: The Mediating Role of Psychological Empowerment & Positive Effect

Abstract

AbstractPurpose/Objectives:This study examines how and why Servant leadership positively influences follower's behaviors i.e. (Job Performance and Creativity). By utilizing Frederickson's Broaden and Build theory and Psychological theory of Safety (Edmonson, 1999), we postulate that servant leadership promotes a safe environment which enables individuals to feel psychologically empowered and demonstrate higher positive affect thus creating favorable employee behaviors. Design/Methodology/Approach:Field data which was temporally segregated at two different time intervals with a time lag of 1 month between was collected from employees and their peers (n= 417, self and peer dyads) working in the Banking sector of Pakistan. Structural equation modeling (SEM) technique using AMOS 18 software was applied whereby firstly a Full measurement model was run to check the discriminant and convergent validity of the study's variables. After gaining credence in the measurement model, the hypothesized structural model was run to test the direct as well as mediation paths.Findings:The results of the SEM highlighted that all the direct effects hypothesis were supported. Moreover, the findings of the bootstrapping technique in SEM indicated that the indirect paths running from Servant leadership to job behaviors through both the parallel mediators (i.e. Psychological empowerment and Positive Affect) were significant (Two tailed significance) and contained non zero (bootstrapped confidence intervals). Thus, the results lend full credence to the hypothesized structural model which suggests that Psychological Empowerment and Positive affect act as unique mechanisms through which Servant leaders are beneficial in promoting positive job behaviors (i.e. Job Performance and Creativity).Originality/Value:This study contributes to the current literature in the field of leadership in general and servant leadership in particular by identifying two novel processes of Psychological empowerment and positive affect in the servant leadership and employee behaviours relationship. This study explains how Servant leaders inculcate psychological empowerment and generate positive affect in their followers which further translates into productive work behaviors.Keywords:Servant leadership, Psychological empowerment, Positive Affect, Job Performance, Creativity