Leader member exchange as a mediator of the relationship between servant leadership and job satisfaction: A research on Turkish ICT companies

Abstract

Turkey Servant leadership (SL) is a theoretical framework that defines a leader's primary motivation and role as service to others. It introduces a holistic approach to work, advocates a sense of community, and promotes the sharing of power in decision making by showing humility, authenticity, and stewardship. Servant leader also develops and empowers employees by standing back, encouraging to be autonomous, and by forgiving mistakes. On the other hand, the Leader Member Exchange (LMX) Theory explores the one-on-one relationship between a leader and the individual follower independently, instead of focusing on the general relationship between the leader and the group as a whole. The objective of this study is to test the effect of SL on job satisfaction (JS) in Turkish business context and to identify the mediator effects of LMX on the relationship between SL and JS by quantitative data obtained from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) Sector companies in Turkey. The multidimensional leadership measure developed by Van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011), four-dimension LMX Measure of Liden and Maslyn (1998), and short form of Minnesota Job Satisfaction Questionnaire (MSQ) developed by Weiss, Dawis, England, and Lofquist (1967) were used as assessment tools on questionnaire. Research results show that there is a partial mediator effect of LMX on the relationship between SL and JS. The demographic, social, and technological changes of last decades of 20 th century transformed the traditional organizations of 1900s. Over time, innovation and customer satisfaction became at least as important as the standardization and efficiency of processes. Moreover, the organizations have consisted of more diverse employees of different gender, ethnicity, religions, nationality, and age groups. One can also extend this discussion to the intellectual