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Servant chief executive officers and employees’ responses

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: The impact of servant leadership, which emphasizes personal integrity and the needs of followers, has been examined in the literature. However, existing studies have not explored the influence of servant leadership by strategic leaders on the performance of employees. Drawing from social learning theory and collective social learning theory, we examined the effect of servant leadership by chief executive officers (CEOs) on employees’ work outcomes. Our sample comprised 66 CEOs from intelligence-intensive companies in China, matched with 526 members of top management teams and 1,294 employees. Our results revealed that servant leadership by CEOs had a positive influence on the performance of employees. Further, top management teams’ social integration, team knowledge integration, and employees’ psychological empowerment acted as mediators of this relationship. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.

Source: Social Behavior and Personality An International Journal

DOI: 10.2224/sbp.14095

Authors: Chen Zhang, Wensong Zhang, Fengbo Liang, Jiequn Wang, Shaoxue Wu

Institution: Beijing Jiaotong University

Language: English

Topic: Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior

Subfield: Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

Field: Business, Management and Accounting

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Decent work and economic growth

Open Access status: diamond

OpenAlex ID: W4409558966

FWCI:

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