Servant leadership, span of control, and outcomes in a municipality context

Abstract

The purpose of the current study was to investigate the moderating role of span of supervision in the association between servant leadership and multiple outcomes such as job satisfaction and follower performance in a municipality context in Norway. Cross-sectional research design was applied, where data were collected from 237 respondents where leaders and their followers participated. Results showed how the positive relationship between servant leadership and job satisfaction is attenuated by a larger span of supervision, resulting in poorer follower performance. The present study contributes to the servant leadership literature by showing that servant leaders do not operate in the same manner across different degrees of span of supervision. Evidence suggests that span of supervision creates distance between leaders and followers and moderates the types of leader behaviors that may emerge or are viable, such that serving every follower’s highest priority needs becomes difficult to execute.