The Relationship Between the Servant Leadership Behaviors of Immediate Supervisors and Followers’ Perceptions of Being Empowered in the Context of Small Business

Abstract

Servant leadership has gained an enormous amount of popularity in organizations by being viewed as a promising resolution to a perceived need for leaders to become more efficient, principled, and employee focused. Yet there is paucity of empirical research to substantiate these claims. This study attempted to fill this knowledge gap. The research questions explored (a) the necessary and sufficient conditions to help maintain servant leadership in an organization; and (b) the role servant leadership might play in ensuring a participative business culture along with profitability, employee satisfaction, and empowerment. Theoretical foundation for the study was provided by Greenleaf's work on servant leadership in combination with other prominent leadership theories, such as transformational and transactional theories. In this qualitative study, research questions were answered through in-depth, unstructured interviews with a convenience sample of 21 senior managers drawn from 16 business organizations. Data were analyzed using NVivo 8 software and interpreted through the methodological framework provided by Moustakas and Creswell. The results suggest that (a) servant leadership enhances profits through reduced turnover and increased organizational trust, and (b) employee satisfaction increases in organizations where leaders see themselves as servants first. There are implications for positive social change that include promoting servant leadership among larger segments of leaders and thereby increasing employee morale and commitment to organizational effectiveness along with concern for client satisfaction and social responsibility.