Direct and indirect effects of servant and ethical leadership styles on employee creativity: mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior

Abstract

PurposeThis research mainly aims to test the impact of two leadership styles (ethical and servant leadership) on employee creativity; and to determine whether organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) mediates the relationships between them.Design/methodology/approachThe paper relied on a quantitative research approach with a sample of 213 staff from public universities in the United Arab Emirates. In this paper, the partial least square approach (PLS-SEM) was employed in order to verify the proposed hypotheses.FindingsThe outcomes confirmed that OCB has a positive impact on employee creativity. Additionally, the findings indicated that ethical leadership positively affected OCB and employee creativity. It was also confirmed that servant leadership has a significant positive impact on OCB and employee creativity. Finally, the findings revealed that OCB fully mediates the linkages among servant and ethical leadership and employee creativity.Originality/valueThis paper acknowledges the existing gaps in the prior literature, and enables us to understand clearly about the significance of ethical as well as servant leadership in affecting employee creativity via OCB as a mediator.

Damping the Relationship Between Work Pressure and Presenteeism Through Servant Leadership in Hotels

“…In specific words, servant leadership dampens the positive relationship between work pressure and presenteeism. The social exchange theory, which forms the theoretical basis for servant leadership, may be used to analyze this finding (Greenleaf, 1998& Hanaysha et al, 2022. Social exchange theory is used to interpret workplace human behavior.…”

“…Huang et al, 2016;Bao et al, 2018;Ye et al, 2019;Elche et al, 2020;Qiu et al, 2020;Darvishmotevali and Altinay, 2022). To help their subordinates reach their full potential, leaders must practice servant leadership which emphasizes the role of leaders to do so (Liden et al, 2015& Hanaysha et al, 2022. A manager with a servant-leader character may meet their employees' needs, facilitate their intrinsic happiness, and establish altruistic principles and a culture of public service in them (Greenleaf, 1998& Shim et al, 2021 and hence, reduce work pressure.…”

“…The social exchange theory, which places a strong emphasis on the prosperity and support of subordinates, serves as the theoretical foundation for servant leadership (Greenleaf, 1998& Hanaysha et al, 2022. The social exchange theory generally helps us understand the reciprocal connections between leaders and their subordinates in the workplace (Jaiswal & Dhar, 2017).…”

Effectiveness of Ethical Leadership on Job Satisfaction: Mediating Role of Organizational Citizenship Behavior

“…Motivation people who are dedicated to ethical practices tend to work harder than those who are only motivated by economic or social factors. When workers feel their job is valued and important, they are more likely to be inspired to help others come up with innovative ideas (Hanaysha et al, 2022;Kalshoven et al, 2011).…”

“…Researchers and HR professionals have placed a lot of attention on organizational citizenship behavior in the domains of organizational behavior and organizational psychology. According to the definition of OCB, it is a voluntary individual behavior that enhances overall organizational performance but is not formally recognized as an incentive by the company (Hanaysha et al, 2022;Organ et al, 2006).…”