Servant leadership and performance of public hospitals: Trust in the leader and psychological empowerment of nurses

Abstract

Aims: This study examines the effect of servant leadership on the performance of the hospital through the mediating effect of trust in the leader. It further analyses the moderating role of psychological empowerment. Background: Hospitals in Pakistan experience a severe shortage of nurses. Nurses are overworked and need support to provide quality patient care. Servant leadership, which focuses on the growth and development of followers, is of relevance in such context. Methods: A sample of 339 registered nurses from four public hospitals in Pakistan provided survey data. Instruments with established psychometric properties and structural equation modelling were used to test the model. Results: Servant leadership has a significant direct effect on trust in the leader and an indirect effect on the performance of the hospital through trust in the leader. A moderated mediation test reveals that the relationship between trust in the leader and the performance of the hospital is stronger when nurses report high psychological empowerment. Conclusion: Servant leadership instils trust among nurses and elevates the organisational performance of the hospital.

The relationship between servant leadership and nurses' in‐role performance: The sequential mediating effects of job autonomy and emotional exhaustion

“…Nonetheless, the nature of nursing leadership styles, how nursing leadership should be implemented, and its associated outcomes remain under-researched (Bai & Bai, 2023;Cummings et al, 2018). Therefore, this study focuses on servant leadership, a novel leadership type that has received scant attention in the nursing domain (Saleem et al, 2022;Xiao et al, 2023). We found that servant leadership did not directly influence nurses' in-role performance (Model 3, b = −0.023, p = .681), but through a two-mediator sequential mediation chain.…”

“…In the nursing context, leadership strongly impacts nurses' outcomes and work experience (Luo et al, 2022). Nurse leaders contribute to work environments that promote high-quality patient care (Saleem et al, 2022), nurse well-being (Boamah, 2022) and performance (Eva et al, 2019). For example, Blake et al (2013) found that support from nursing leaders was strongly associated with job satisfaction as they support nurses' autonomy and control over their practice (Duffield et al, 2009).…”

Leading With Heart

“…Servant leadership has benefits and drawbacks. Benefits include development of a strong team culture, strong relationships, enhanced team confidence (Asuna, 2023), and trust (Saleem et al, 2022). In addition, servant leadership has demonstrated positive correlations with organizational outcomes (Yasir & Jan, 2022), collaboration (Tagliareni et al, 2022), reduced burnout (Ma et al, 2021), job satisfaction and engagement (Specchia et al, 2021), and overall nurse well-being (Niinihuhta & Häggman-Laitila, 2021).…”

Servant Leadership and Job Performance: Evidence From Airline Companies in Jordan

“…Consequently, the theory lacks scientific and empirical evidence to justify its widespread acceptance. Although there is a vast volume of research covering servant leadership under different conditions, there still needs to examine the impact of servant leadership on job performance (Lee et al, 2020;Saleem et al, 2022). Thus, the positive side of servant leadership and its consequences are still to be uncovered and understood, especially in this study's context; the Jordanian environment.…”

“…The world is witnessing hyper-turbulent business, social and economic changes, and significant global health and safety issues due to Covid 19 and various global crisis that affect most organizations (Saleem et al, 2022;The Global Risks Report, 2022;Ruiz-Palomino et al, 2022). Accordingly, business leaders need to respond by promoting the most effective measures for economic upheaval and taking actions that maximize economic recovery (Fernandez & Shaw, 2020).…”