Servant leadership and followership creativity

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine how servant leadership and political skill combine to impact workplace spirituality and employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach Participants were working adults recruited by graduate and undergraduate students from a US public regional comprehensive university. Data were collected across three time periods, with a final sample size of 280 participants. Findings The authors’ findings suggest that servant leaders impact employee creativity by fostering an environment that promotes workplace spirituality. Furthermore, this relationship is strengthened to the extent that the servant leader possesses high levels of political skill. Research limitations/implications This study provides a foundation for the interplay between servant leadership and political skill. Therefore, the data collection procedures undertaken in this study (i.e. from sources in multiple organizations) are beneficial. A limitation to this study is the use of a single informant to measure all of the constructs, which may cause a bias in the results. Practical implications This study provides a foundation for the interplay between servant leadership and political skill. Therefore, the data collection procedures undertaken in this study (i.e. from sources in multiple organizations) are beneficial. Originality/value Although servant leadership research continues to receive increased attention in the extant literature, researchers have tended to focus on the relational aspects of servant leadership. Curiously, the “leader” side of servant leadership has been largely neglected. As a result, some have questioned the construct as a viable leadership model. Greenleaf (1977), however, noted that servant leaders also possess conceptual skills; yet, these skills are rarely included in servant leadership measurements or empirical studies. The authors argue that political skill captures the essence of these abilities, and that including it strengthens the servant leader’s impact on workplace spirituality, ultimately influencing employee creativity.

Servant Leadership, Innovative Capacity and Performance in Third Sector Entities

“…(Yuan and Woodman, 2010;Goepel et al, 2012). As a result, the servant leader can encourage innovative behavior amongst employees (Liden et al, 2008;Panaccio et al, 2015;Williams et al, 2017;Cai et al, 2018) so as to achieve a positive impact on innovation (García-Morales et al, 2008;Gumusluoglu and Ilsev, 2009;Panaccio et al, 2015) and on innovative capacity (Neubert et al, 2008;Schaubroeck et al, 2011;Yoshida et al, 2014). Previous researches show that companies led by servant leaders tend to improve their innovative capacity (Yoshida et al, 2014;Ruiz-Palomino et al, 2019).…”

How Servant Leadership Principles Affect Employee Turnover at a Solid Waste Management Firm

“…That philosophy begins with the attitude that leaders must serve others first (Otero-Neira, Varela-Neira, & Bande, 2016). Servant leadership is hierarchically horizontal, rather than vertical, differing in its primary emphasis on others in comparison to other managerial styles focused on the leader (Williams, Brandon, Hayek, Haden, & Atinc, 2017). A servant leader first considerer the concerns of stakeholders, including employees and executive leadership, prior to satisfying personal needs.…”

“…Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) posited servant leadership is closely aligned with transformational leadership, including service, trust, and vision, but differs when considering the alignment between the motives of the leader and follower. A horizontal focus on followers, rather than a typical vertical leaderfocused perspective, makes servant leadership unique amongst all other leadership styles (Williams et al, 2017).…”

“…Many participants focused on the unique relationship between management and non-managers, in which the traditional hierarchal structure was not present. Servant leadership is distinctive in this respect amongst all other leadership styles; the horizontal focus is on followers, rather than a typical vertical leader-focused perspective (Williams et al, 2017). Also, servant leaders walk and move amongst their followers in a direction that can bond all in a common visualization (Boone & Makhani, 2012).…”

Organizational Politics and Job Satisfaction: Mediation and Moderation of Political Skills

“…It will enhance one's personal or organizational objectives (Kapoutsis, Papalexandris, & Thanos, 2019;Brouer, Badaway, Gallagher, & Haber, 2015;Fang, Chi, Chen, & Baron, 2015). As such, politically skilled individuals combine social astuteness with the capacity to adjust their behavior to different and changing situational demands in a manner that appears to be sincere, inspires support and trust, and effectively influences and controls the responses of others (Shaughnessy, Treadway, Breland, & Perrewé, 2017;Williams, Brandon, Hayek, Haden, & Atinc, 2017;McAllister, Ellen, Perrewé, Ferris, & Hirsch, 2015).…”