Examining the Impact of Servant Leadership on Sales Force Performance

Jaramillo, Fernando; Grisaffe, Douglas B.; Chonko, Lawrence B.; Roberts, James A.

doi:10.2753/pss0885-3134290304

Cited by 171 publications

(127 citation statements)

References 1 publication

Supporting

Mentioning

118

Contrasting

Unclassified

Order By: Relevance

“…First, regarding job satisfaction, the study findings, which support the relationship of servant leadership and follower job satisfaction, are consistent with previous studies in the servant leadership literature. The positive effect of servant leadership on job satisfaction is also reported by Laub [11], Hebert [17], Drury [52], Irving [19,20], Mayer et al [18], West et al [53], Jaramillo et al [49], Sun and Wang [66], and van Dierendonck and Nuijten [9]. The present study affirms that servant leadership, leader follower-focus, leader goal-orientation, and leader purposefulness are correlated with and predictors of follower job satisfaction.…”

Section: Discussion Of Study Findingssupporting

confidence: 56%

“…The positive effect of servant leadership on organizational commitment is also reported by Dannhauser and Boshoff [50], Liden et al [16], Jaramillo et al [49], Drury [63], Asag-gau and van Dierendonck [51], and van Dierendonck and Nuijten [9]. Discussing the rationale behind the relationship between servant leadership and organizational commitment, Liden et al argue from social exchange theory that "subordinates may be motivated to respond in kind to their leader's extra efforts by evincing increased commitment to the organization" [16] (p. 174).…”

Section: Discussion Of Study Findingssupporting

confidence: 55%

“…In previous studies, researchers found servant leadership to have a positive effect on job satisfaction (e.g., [9,11,[17][18][19][20]49,52,53]). Based on this empirical literature, the researchers hypothesize that servant leadership, as measured by the PLI, will positively relate to job satisfaction (H 2A ).…”

Section: Hypotheses Related To Job Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In previous studies, researchers found servant leadership to have a positive effect on organizational commitment (e.g., [9,16,[49][50][51][52]). Making an argument from social exchange theory, Liden et al [16] note that the connection between servant leadership and follower organizational commitment is likely explained by subordinate motivation to respond with extra commitment based on the example of extra effort modeled by servant leaders.…”

Section: Hypotheses Related To Organizational Commitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 3 more Smart Citations

Leader Purposefulness within Servant Leadership: Examining the Effect of Servant Leadership, Leader Follower-Focus, Leader Goal-Orientation, and Leader Purposefulness in a Large U.S. Healthcare Organization

Irving

Berndt²

2017

Administrative Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Abstract:As the study of servant leadership expands beyond theoretical exploration, empirical research continues to validate the positive effect of servant leadership behaviors and attitudes on diverse follower and organizational measures. This study expands the conversation by engaging the theme of leader purposefulness within servant leadership studies. A sample of over 1700 employees from a large U.S. healthcare organization provided responses to five research instruments. Follower perspectives on servant leadership, leader follower-focus, leader goal-orientation, and leader purposefulness were assessed using the Purpose in Leadership Inventory and each of these independent variables were analyzed for hypothesized positive relationships with four dependent variables: follower job satisfaction, follower organizational commitment, follower person-organization fit, and follower perception of leadership effectiveness. Each of the 16 hypothesized relationships were supported at a statistically significant level (<0.001) with positive correlations ranging from 0.40 to 0.88. Regression analyses were conducted to provide predictive modeling and indicators of the relative importance of each independent variable on the related dependent variables.

show abstract

Section: Discussion Of Study Findingssupporting

confidence: 56%

Section: Discussion Of Study Findingssupporting

confidence: 55%

Section: Hypotheses Related To Job Satisfactionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Hypotheses Related To Organizational Commitmentmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Leader Purposefulness within Servant Leadership: Examining the Effect of Servant Leadership, Leader Follower-Focus, Leader Goal-Orientation, and Leader Purposefulness in a Large U.S. Healthcare Organization

Irving

Berndt²

2017

Administrative Sciences

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…One such assumption relates the orientation of servant leadership to healing the emotions of followers, empowering them and helping them grow (Wheeler, 2011). A number of empirical studies tested this assumption and suggested that servant leadership can enhance the well-being/ emotional health of its followers by creating a positive work climate (Black, 2010;Jaramillo et al, 2009a;Neubert et al, 2008). The followers' sense of well-being, in turn, is found to be related to greater organizational commitment (Cerit, 2010;Hale & Fields, 2007;Hamilton & Bean, 2005;Han et al, 2010;Pekerti & Sendjaya, 2010).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Healing a Broken Spirit: Role of Servant Leadership

Jit¹,

Sharma

Kawatra³

2017

Vikalpa: The Journal for Decision Makers

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Executive SummaryA number of empirical studies have suggested that servant leadership can enhance the well-being/emotional health of its followers by creating a positive work climate ( Black, 2010 ; Jaramillo et al., 2009 a; Neubert et al., 2008 ). The followers’ sense of well-being, in turn, has been found to be related to greater organizational commitment ( Cerit, 2010 ; Hale & Fields, 2007 ; Hamilton & Bean, 2005 ; Han, Kakabadse, & Kakabadse, 2010; Pekerti & Sendjaya, 2010 ). Greater the organizational commitment, higher is the employee job satisfaction ( Cerit, 2009 ; Chung, Jung, Kyle, & Petrick, 2010 ; Jenkins & Stewart, 2010 ; Mayer, Bardes, & Piccolo, 2008 ) and lower is the employee turnover ( Babakus, Yavas, & Ashill, 2011 ; Jaramillo, Grisaffe, Chonko, & Roberts, 2009 b).A servant leader—with reported behaviour characteristics such as empathy, compassion, and altruistic calling and healing—builds not only a mentally and emotionally healthy workforce but also inculcates a sense of cohesiveness, collaboration, and sustainable relationships among the followers by understanding and addressing their feelings and emotions. It has been reported that cohesiveness and collaboration in a servant-led organization increases pro-social and altruistic behaviour among followers that improves organizational performance ( Ebener & O’Connell, 2010 ; Ehrhart, 2004 ; Hu & Liden, 2011 ; Walumbwa, Hartnell, & Oke, 2010 ) and overall team effectiveness ( Mayer et al., 2008 ; McCuddy & Cavin, 2008 ; Taylor et al., 2007 ).The significance of understanding and addressing the feelings and emotions of followers and ensuring their well-being becomes evident from the above findings. The aim of this qualitative study is to comprehend how servant leaders understand, empathize with, and address the emotional turmoil of their employees.Orientation for emotional healing is reported to be a unique characteristic of servant leaders. But there is negligible empirical research to understand the way servant leaders alleviate the suffering of their employees. The present study fills this gap.Qualitative methods and techniques from different qualitative methodologies were used for data collection and analysis. We conducted 15 semi-structured interviews with leaders in corporate, education, and government sectors to capture personal accounts about their experiences, reflections, and analysis of their approach to emotional healing.Our results suggest that servant leaders—with their orientation for empathy, compassion, healing, altruistic calling, and listening—adopt a compassionate approach to manage employees’ emotional turmoil. All three parts of the process of compassion, described by Clark (1997) and Kanov et al. (2004) are clearly visible in the narratives of our respondents. The servant leaders, with characteristics of empathy and compassion, are oriented towards the followers’ suffering. This leads to empathic concern and compassion that trigger in them an urge to take action to relieve the followers’ suffering. This action, also termed as compassionate responding, manifests itself in a three-step behaviour: (1) patient listening and discussion; (2) empathetic handling that includes comforting and calming as well as guiding and counselling the suffering employee; and (3) taking personal responsibility and providing support (emotional, social, financial, and administrative).Insight from this study will guide the working managers to understand and practice the process of alleviating the emotional turmoil of employees such that a culture of compassion and benevolence will emerge and sustain for the long-term health and growth of the organization.

show abstract