Spirituality and Servant Leadership: A Conceptual Model and Research Proposal
KEY WORDS
Servant Leadership, Spiritual Values and behaviours, Organizational Leadership Assessment
With confidence shaken in contemporary business leadership, there has been an increased interest in Green leaf’s (1977) servant leadership theory, which promotes setting aside self-interest of leaders for the betterment of their followers (Liden, Wayne, Zhao, & Henderson, 2008; Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008). However, while there has been increased research in the development of conceptual models and questionnaires, there is still little known about the conditions that facilitate servant leadership (Yukl, 2010). This paper explores the concept of spirituality, and its effect on the formation and effectiveness of servant leadership. A proposed conceptual model postulates spiritual beliefs (e.g., hope and faith in God) as a causal factor in the formation of a servant leader’s values and behaviors. Furthermore, the model posits that spiritual practices (e.g., praying, meditating, and reading scripture) are a moderating variable of servant leadership behavior and the outcome variable, leadership effectiveness, as perceived by followers. The paper reveals hypothesized relationships between four variables and proposes methods for measuring and testing the propositions.
G T Freeman
The author is Adjunct Professor at Montreat College, North Carolina, USA and a financial services executive responsible for organizational and operational effectiveness at a Fortune 500 insurance and retirement services firm. He may be reached at glenfre@regent.edu