A multi-level study of servant leadership on creativity

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to explore the influencing mechanism of servant leadership on employee and team creativity based on efficacy theory. Specifically, the study intends to develop a model of efficacy beliefs that mediates the relationships between servant leadership, employee creativity, and team creativity at different levels. The study also aims to investigate the moderating effects of team power distance on the relationships between servant leadership, creative self-efficacy, and team efficacy at both individual and team levels. Design/methodology/approach Servant leadership, employee creativity, creative self-efficacy, team creativity, team efficacy, and team power distance were assessed in an empirical study based on a sample of 466 employees and 83 team leaders from 11 banks in China. Findings From efficacy theory perspective, this paper finds that servant leadership promotes employee creative self-efficacy and team efficacy, which enables the simultaneous promotion of employee creativity and team creativity. Team power distance also moderates the relationship between servant leadership and team efficacy. Practical implications The results suggest that it is important to encourage managers to engage in servant leader behaviors, which is conductive to enhancing employees’ self-efficacy beliefs and thereby improving creative outcomes of employees. The results are also helpful for managers to enhance their understanding of the differences in cultural values in management behavior and the effects of behavior on team efficacy. Originality/value The research findings provide a significant contribution to the literature in that it shows self-efficacy as a crucial mediating mechanism through which servant leadership influences creativity at individual and team levels. Moreover, the findings support the view that power distance is an important contextual factor that affects the influencing mechanism of servant leadership on team creativity. Furthermore, this paper is one of the few studies answering the call to examine the effect of leadership at multiple levels.

Top-down knowledge hiding and innovative work behavior (IWB): a three-way moderated-mediation analysis of self-efficacy and local/foreign status

“…Of these predictors, leadership/supervisory behavior has been the most acknowledged predictor of IWB, due to leaders'/supervisors' role modeling and reward-punishment capacity (Bos-Nehles et al, 2017;Javed et al, 2018;Tu et al, 2018). While extant research has identified positive leadership/supervisory behaviors (i.e., ethical, servant, and inclusive leadership behaviors) (Javed et al, 2018;Yang et al, 2017;Yidong and Xinxin, 2013) as positive predictors of IWB, relatively little is known about the impact of negative leadership/supervisor behaviors as negative predictors of IWB, with the exception of abusive supervision (Dong et al, 2012;Lee et al, 2018;Rousseau and Aubé, 2018). Thus, to extend the literature on the relationship between negative supervisory behavior and IWB, we investigate the effect of SKHS on supervisee IWB.…”

“…The enhanced/diminished self-efficacy then motivates/demotivates supervisees to increase/decrease their IWB, respectively (Haase et al, 2018). Using multi-level data from 83 team leaders and 466 team members in the banking sector in China, Yang et al (2017) suggested that self-efficacy mediated the positive relationship between servant leadership and creativity, On the other hand, using data from a sample of 325 employees from 17 companies in Nepal, Rauniyar et al (2017) suggested that creative self-efficacy mediated the negative relationship between abusive supervision and employee creativity. In other words, self-efficacy acts as the underlying mechanism through which positive/negative supervisory behaviors translate into enhanced/diminished IWB.…”

Promoting firm innovativeness through servant leadership and corporate social responsibility to employees

“…Recent studies have found a significant relationship between servant leadership and innovation (e.g. Yang et al, 2017;Yoshida, 2014). However, to the best of our knowledge, little research has explored the underlying mechanisms that explain this relationship.…”

“…Previous studies identified that the influence of servant leadership on different outcomes, including creativity, may be indirect. It is therefore necessary to study the mediating mechanisms in the relationship between servant leadership and different outcomes (Liden et al, 2014;Yang et al, 2017). Servant leadership places emphasis on the personal growth of followers and adds the component of social responsibility to transformational leadership (Graham, 1991).…”

The Moderating Effect of Self-Esteem on the Relationship Between Servant Leadership and Organizational Citizenship Behaviors

“…Additionally, Jaramillo, Grisaffe, Chonko, and Roberts (2009), and Black (2010) found that servant leadership led to a decrease in turnover intention because a positive work environment was established, thus leading employees to feel more committed to the organization. Another benefit of servant leadership was reported by Yang, Liu, and Gu (2017) who found that servant leadership increased creativity at both the individual and team levels.…”