Servant Leadership: A Review of Literature: July 2018
Servant Leadership: A Review of Literature: July 2018
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Introduction
The concepts of leadership are omnipresent on this Earth right from
beginning. The humans’ evolution process poses number of challenges
to the leadership in term of its adoption. The word ‘leadership’
incorporated into the technical vocabulary of organizational theory
without any scientific enquiry (Yukl, 2009). Leadership studies in the
past covered wider human and organizational aspects to define
leadership. In these studies, leadership is defined as a capability to
influence a group toward accomplishment of goals (Robbins et al.,
2013), it is a result of social processes (Yukl, 2009), arises from the
formal structure in the organizations (Drafke & Kossen, 1998), defined
as a constructive & dynamic force in the organizations, and a
transactional event in which leaders affect and are affected by
followers rightly or wrongly (Rowe & Gurrero, 2013). Greenberg
(2011) described leadership as a process which involves non-coercive
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influence by the leader on the followers for the their needs. Leadership is at the center of all developmental
accomplishment of desired goals. This means the followers issues; even leaders are working on controlling external
willingly follow their leader. According to Blanchard factors for sustainable growth of organizations and society
(1998) leadership exists covertly in relationships, as a whole. This is possible when leaders serve followers
imagination and perception of involved parties. The with selfless desire of service. The emphasis of leadership
process of leadership involves leader as a key element. studies are shifting toward the servant leadership theory
These leaders are pivotal part of our society .leader define and its application. This change is evident from the
the reality and nurture a vision for new better reality to increasing conceptual and empirical investigation of
come (Taylor et al., 2007). Leaders are present in every servant leadership by leadership scholars (Greenleaf, 2002;
walk of our lives. Rowe and Guerrero (2013) defined leader Neubert et al., 2008; Panaccio et al., 2014; Spears, 2004;
as a person who exercises leadership. The leader should Taylor et al., 2007; Van Dierendonck, 2011; Verdorfer,
have desire to lead, should be flexible, focused, cognitive 2016; Walumbwa et al., 2010).
and emotionally intelligent. Leader is not a person with
The ‘servant leadership’ is a paradoxical (Block, 1993) and
official designation but the person who run things
oxymoronic term coined purposefully by Robert Greenleaf
(Greenberg, 2011). Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi, Mother
in 1977 after reading Hermen Hesse’s ‘Journey to the East’.
Teresa, Nelson Mandela, Abraham Lincoln, and many
The Greenleaf provided a pause to leadership scholars to
more contributed to the mankind and society profoundly.
thinks leadership by turning it upside down (McClellan,
The different approaches of leadership described different 2010). This is an attempt to change the direction of
attributes, behaviors, situations and power roles of leaders. organizational pyramid with respect to leader and
Leadership as a function of trait emphasize on person’s followers relationships. The notion of servant leadership
qualities and characteristics. Ghiselli and Porter (1963) was introduced by (Greenleaf, 1977), who described it as
identified supervising ability, intelligence, decisiveness, follows: “The servant-leader is a servant first. It begins
initiative, self-assurance, maturity, affinity for working with a natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first.
class and masculinity-feminity as personality traits of Then the conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead”
leader. The leaders like Napoleon, Mao, Churchill, and (p.27). Servant leadership is about finding satisfaction and
Buddha are known by their traits. This approach emphasize motivation by prioritizing and serving other’s needs. In
that one should learn and adopt the traits of successful servant leadership leader holds the values of love, care
leaders. On the other hand, the scholars also explored the compassion and positivity in work and life for
leadership as a function of behavior. The behavioral accomplishment of desired goals (Spear, 2004). Here,
attributes of leader differentiate leaders from non-leaders servant leader doesn’t mean person who follow orders and
(Robbins et al., 2013). The behavior of leader generates submissive to others, but a leader who find motivation in
satisfaction on the end of followers, so the followers ‘leading by serving’. Servant leader is a guiding spirit, head
recognize the person as their leader. While, in case of power and act as a noble leader (Greenleaf, 1970). Yukl (2009)
influencing approach the leadership depends upon the describe integrity, altruism, humility, empathy & healing,
ability of leader to command resources. Moreover, the personal growth, fairness & justice and empowerment as
situational approach distinguishes the leaders on the basis main key elements of servant leader’s behavior. While,
of attributes exhibit by leaders in different situations (Yukl, Spears and Wagner-Marsh (1998) extracted ten main
2009). characteristics for the development of servant leadership;
and termed these as “listening, empathy, healing,
Theory of Servant Leadership
awareness, persuasion, conceptualization, foresight,
The servant leadership is not any longer a new term in stewardship, commitment to the growth of people and
leadership theory. The most important task of present time building community”. All characteristics mentioned above
is to nurture and develop leaders who are people centric, are not exhaustive but act as promise and power for those
relational, flexible and ethical (Avolio et al., 2009). The who have the intention to adopt the concepts of servant
servant leadership originates from the positive philosophy leadership.
but in the recent studies scholars are stressing on negative
The servant leader work beyond their level and out of
organizational terminology for generating background and
comfort zone to generate humility. Servant leaders devote
defining relevance of servant leadership (Sendjaya et al.,
themselves toward followers. The servant leadership helps
2008; Donia et al., 2016). The scandals, malpractices and
to develop a complementary team to overcome weaknesses
decreased confidence in leadership are pointing toward the
at individual and organizational level. In case of servant
application of ethics and values in leadership. Society is
leadership leader adopts life principles for achieving life
looking for leaders who built a better future for coming
astonishing results. The servant leadership works on the
generations. People want and prefer leaders, who focus on
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Volume 11 Issue 1, July 2018
aspects of courage, humility, integrity and reduces the fear people’s idea about what their true self is” (Vannini &
of followers by realizing them that there are more Franzese, 2008).
important things than fear. People release rather than
• Covenantal relationship: The environment of
holding. People start believing that people around them are
organization enriched with strong interpersonal
important for them and for their organization. Servant
relationship by servant leader. People realize their full
leadership leads to development of moral authority;
potential and start experiments at their levels. This
employees believe in development of core values and
leads to growth by self-expression. Servant leader
principles. All this is possible because servant leaders
treats people as equal partners in the organization
connect with others by giving them freedom of choice
(Sendjaya et al., 2008).
(Covey, 2006). The potential benefits of servant leadership
are loyalty, trust and satisfaction with the leader (Spear, • Responsible morality: Servant leader takes a moral
2004). Servant leadership creates culture of communi- stand for ends and means and establish these
cation, increase trust and loyalty between members of throughout the organization. This helps to establish the
organization (Amy and Honeycut, 2011). The belief in culture that accepts and follows the strong values
service of others’ and giving attitude of servant leader (Sendjaya et al., 2008).
envision and embed service culture into organizational
• Transcendental spirituality: Servant leader help
culture.
followers to develop meaningful work and a healthy
The servant leadership is a milestone in the way of value workplace. This promotes interconnectedness
based leadership. This widely acceptable approach of between inner self and outer world. It generates sense
leadership is promising a bright future of leadership in of identity and purpose in people life (Sendjaya et al.,
modern organizations. Servant leadership is about 2008).
accepting the reality and envisioning a future reality which
• Transforming influence: Servant leadership starts
is people centric and growth oriented. The studies on
multiple changes in followers, organization and in
servant leadership will provide direction to leaders and
society. To implement these changes successfully
organization for their future.
servant leadership minimize barriers that inhibit
Dimensions of Servant Leadership success (Sendjaya et al., 2008).
• Voluntary subordination: It is a willful, conscious and The agapolove, patience, kindness, gentleness, empathy
deliberate submission to the others. Servant leader and persuasion as dimensions of servant leadership were
consider others’ needs and interests above own. The given by (Covey, 2006). While, Carroll and Patterson
word ‘voluntary’ describes the leader’s innate attitude (2014) termed altruism, humility, trust, vision,
and feeling of serving other; servant leaders empowerment, service and agapolove as different
subordinate themselves “because they want to, not dimensions of servant leadership.
because they have to” (Sendjaya, 2015).
Method
• Authentic self: Servant leader work silently behind the
The different databases were explored for finding studies
scenes and accepted criticism in positive way. Servant
related to servant leadership theory. For conducting this
leader does not act defensive when confronted
study the databases’ used and accessible through the
(Sendjaya et al., 2008). When one is true to oneself in
authors’ university library system are included in table 1
all aspects of life he or she experience authentic self. It
is a self-reflective and emotional experience. “It’s
Table 1. List of Databases Used in the Study
S. No E-Resources Website Link
1. Emerald http://www.emeraldinsight.com/
2. JSTOR http://www.jstor.org/
3. Springer Link http://link.springer.com/
4. Taylor & Francis http://www.tandfonline.com/
5. Wiley-Blackwell http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/
Source: http://www.cuhimachal.ac.in/library.aspx
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Pacific Business Review International
The research papers should be in English language, studies were summarized and placed into matrixes. The
published in peer review journals and has servant discussion and conclusions include thematic presentation
leadership as a key word selected initially to conduct of facts extracted from different studies.
review. Duplicate articles from different databases were
Synthesis of Review Result
excluded from the study. Then the studies were
differentiated as: (a) empirical studies; (b) servant Table 2 included research papers describing servant
leadership model development studies; (c) discuss the leadership from theoretical and practical viewpoint. The
servant leadership as main theme (d) quantitative and researchers focused on theory development of servant
qualitative studies related to servant leadership. For this leadership in light of different organizational and human
study, the information from articles extracted for servant behavioral concepts. Majority of the studies conducted in
leadership concepts and themes discussed under research, Western context, while recent studies are also available on
type of research, context of research, area of research and Asian context. Majority of the studies in the present
methodology used to examine servant leadership was research paper are empirical and mostly used factor
evaluated. In these studies the methodology and tool analysis techniques of data analysis.
development process is presented. The findings from these
Table 2. Servant leadership Studies
Themes of study Author(s) Study Study Sampling Technique Area
Servant leadership, trust, Jaiswal, et. al. Empirical Conducted in 26 Factor analysis India
employee creativity (2017) Research private organizations
Servant leadership, self - Sousa & van Empirical Middle management Regression Portugue
other agreement, Under - Dierendonck, Research professionals from and 3D surface se
estimation (2017) different companies analysis Republic
Servant Leadership, Job Donia, et. al. Empirical 92 supervisor - Factor analysis Pakistan
Satisfaction, Se lf- (2016) Research subordinate dyads
impression, organizational (Time Lag (Communications and
Citizenship Behavior data) Banking)
Servant Leadership, (Ver dorfer, Empirical Leader and Non Factor analysis Germany
Mindfulness, Humility, 2016) Longitudin leaders sample drawn
Standing Back al Research from different
industries
Servant Leadership, Work - (Wang, Kwan Empirical 200 persons from an Factor analysis China
family Balance, & Zhou, 2016) Research insurance company
Identification
Servant leadership, Zhao, et. al. Empirical 293 subordinate - Factor analysis China
Identification, (2016) Research supervisor dyads from
Organizational Citizenship hospitality industry
Behavior toward
coworkers
Servant Leadership (Winston & Empirical Students, faculty, Factor analysis USA
Behavior attributes Fields, 2015) Research university alumni and
colleagues in a variety
of organizations
Servant Leadership, (Carter & Qualitative Restaurant Employees Phenomenolog USA
Employee engagement, Baghurst, Research y study
Customer satisfaction, 2014) Method
Loyalty
Servant Leadership, trust, (CHChan & Empirical Service oriented Factor analysis China
Job satisfaction, Job tenure Mak, 2014) Research private firms
employees
Servant Leadership, Panaccio, et. Empirical, Supervisors and Factor analysis USA
Psychological Contracts, al. (2014) Longitudin Subordinates of 101
Extraversion, proactive, al Research private companies
Collectivism
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Volume 11 Issue 1, July 2018
Covey, S.R., 2006. Servant leadership. Leadership employee extra-role behaviors. Journal of
Excellence, 23(12), pp.5-6. Business and Psychology, 30(4), pp.657-675.
Donia, M.B., Raja, U., Panaccio, A. and Wang, Z., 2016. Reed, L.L., Vidaver-Cohen, D. and Colwell, S.R., 2011. A
Servant leadership and employee outcomes: the new scale to measure executive servant leader-
moderating role of subordinates’ motives. ship: Development, analysis, and implications for
European Journal of Work and Organizational research. Journal of Business Ethics, 101(3), pp.
Psychology, 25(5), pp.722-734. 415-434.
Drafke, M.W. and Kossen, S., 1998. The human side of Robbins, S., Judge, T.A., Millett, B. and Boyle, M., 2013.
organizations. Addison-Wesley. Organisational behaviour: Pearson Higher
Education AU.
Greenleaf, R.K., 1970. The Servant as Leader Indianapolis:
The Robert K. Greenleaf Center, pp.1-37. Rowe, W.G. and Guerrero, L., 2012. Cases in leadership.
Sage.
Greenleaf, R.K., 1977. Servant leadership.
Savage-Austin, A.R. and Honeycutt, A., 2011. Servant
Greenleaf, R.K., 2002. Servant leadership: A journey into
leadership: A phenomenological study of
the nature of legitimate power and greatness.
practices, experiences, organizational effective-
Paulist Press.
ness, and barriers. Journal of Business &
Greenberg, J., 2011. Behavior in organizations. Pearson. Economics Research (JBER), 9(1).
Haire, M., Ghiselli, E., and Porter, L.W., 1963. An Sendjaya, S., Sarros, J.C. and Santora, J.C., 2008. Defining
international study of management attitudes and and measuring servant leadership behaviour in
democratic leadership. In CIOS XIII International organizations. Journal of Management Studies,
Management Congress, September, pp. 16-20. 45(2), pp.402-424.
Jaiswal, N.K., Jaiswal, N.K., Dhar, R.L. and Dhar, R.L., Sendjaya, S., 2007. Conceptualizing and measuring
2017. The influence of servant leadership, trust in spiritual leadership in organizations. International
leader and thriving on employee creativity. Journal of Business and Information, 2(1),
Leadership & Organization Development Journal, pp.104-126.
38(1), pp.2-21.
Sousa, M. and van Dierendonck, D., 2017. Servant leaders
Jaramillo, F., Grisaffe, D.B., Chonko, L.B. and Roberts, as underestimators: theoretical and practical
J.A., 2009. Examining the impact of servant implications. Leadership & Organization
leadership on sales force performance. Journal of Development Journal, 38(2), pp.270-283.
Personal Selling & Sales Management, 29(3),
Spears, L.C. and Wagner-Marsh, F., 1998. Insights on
pp.257-275.
leadership: Service, stewardship, spirit, and
Linda Parris, D. and Welty Peachey, J., 2012. Building a servant-leadership.
legacy of volunteers through servant leadership: A
Spears, L.C., 2004. Practicing servant leadership. Leader
cause related sporting event. Nonprofit Manage-
to leader, 2004(34), pp.7-11.
ment and Leadership, 23(2), pp.259-276.
Stoten, D.W., 2013. Servant leadership in English sixth
McClellan, J.L., 2010. Leadership and complexity:
form colleges: what do teachers tell us?.
Implications for practice within the advisement
International Journal of Educational Manage-
leadership bodies at colleges and universities.
ment, 27(4), pp.377-386.
Complicity: An International Journal of
Complexity and Education, 7(2). Taylor, T., Martin, B.N., Hutchinson, S. and Jinks, M.,
2007. Examination of leadership practices of
Neubert, M.J., Kacmar, K.M., Carlson, D.S., Chonko, L.B.
principals identified as servant leaders.
and Roberts, J.A., 2008. Regulatory focus as a
International Journal of Leadership in Education,
mediator of the influence of initiating structure
10(4), pp.401-419.
and servant leadership on employee behavior.
Journal of applied psychology, 93(6), p.1220. Van Dierendonck, D. and Nuijten, I., 2011. The servant
leadership survey: Development and validation of
Panaccio, A., Henderson, D.J., Liden, R.C., Wayne, S.J.
a multidimensional measure. Journal of business
and Cao, X., 2015. Toward an understanding of
and psychology, 26(3), pp.249-267.
when and why servant leadership accounts for
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Vannini, P. and Franzese, A., 2008. The authenticity of self: Weed, M., 2005, January. " Meta interpretation": a method
Conceptualization, personal experience, and for the interpretive synthesis of qualitative
practice. Sociology Compass, 2(5), pp.1621- research. In Forum Qualitative Sozialforschung/
1637. Forum: Qualitative Social Research (Vol. 6, No.
1).
Verdorfer, A.P., 2016. Examining mindfulness and its
relations to humility, motivation to lead, and Winston, B. and Fields, D., 2015. Seeking and measuring
actual servant leadership behaviors. Mindfulness, the essential behaviors of servant leadership.
7(4), pp.950-961. Leadership & Organization Development Journal,
36(4), pp.413-434.
Walumbwa, F.O., Hartnell, C.A. and Oke, A., 2010.
Servant leadership, procedural justice climate, Yukl, G. A., 2009. Leadership in organizations: Pearson
service climate, employee attitudes, and Education India.
organizational citizenship behavior: a cross-level
Zhao, C., Liu, Y. and Gao, Z., 2016. An identification
investigation. Journal of Applied Psychology,
perspective of servant leadership’s effects. Journal
95(3), p.517.
of Managerial Psychology, 31(5), pp.898-
Wang, M., Kwan, H.K. and Zhou, A., 2016. Effects of 913.
servant leadership on work–family balance in
China. Asia Pacific Journal of Human Resources.
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