Servant leadership and career commitment: The mediating role of organizational-based self-esteem

Abstract

BACKGROUND:

Effective servant leadership affects employee motivation and commitment. It enhances the quality of service provided for customers, customer satisfaction, retention, and makes these institutions more competitive in demanding marketplace. SL is significant for the success of institutions in the hospitality and tourism industry.

OBJECTIVES:

The paper aims to clarify the relationship between servant leadership (SL) and career commitment (CC). In addition, it aims also to examine the mediating role of Organizational- based self-esteem (OBSE) underpinning this relation.

METHODS:

The data were collected by a questionnaire from 537 employees, who work in a large Egyptian travel and Tourism Company, statistical Methods were used such as hierarchical regression, correlation, the bootstrapping test, and so on analyzing the data.

RESULTS:

The paper provides empirical insights about how SL influenced CC; it suggested that OBSE fully mediated the positive relationship between SL and CC.

CONCLUSIONS:

The present study expands our understanding of how and under what conditions SL influences career commitment by examining the mediating role of OBSE.

Keywords

Servant leadership organizational-based self-esteem career commitment

Mervat Elsaied earned her PHD from Ain Shams University in 2011. She has been Associate professor in management department of AL- Azhar University, Egypt. Her academic interests include HRM, Organizational behavior and marketing. Her primary teaching interests include HRM, Marketing, Production management and organizational behavior.

1 Introduction

A servant-leader is a leader who concentrates on developing and empowering his/her subordinates, while at the same time motivating the subordinates to act as servant-leaders themselves [1]. Before referring to himself as a leader, a servant leader considers himself a servant [2]. Furthermore, rather than leading, the primary goal of servant leaders is to serve [1, 2]. Servant leaders are welcomed in the institutions, as they focus on the interests of others rather than merely their interests [3]. SL creates a salient context for employees’ learning and development [4].

SL motivates individual learning by providing persons with opportunities and empowering them to make self-directed decisions [5], from which they develop the required skills, knowledge, needs, and abilities to attain their personal career goals. These circumstances make it more likely that persons can perform their tasks successfully such a favorable environment can enhance OBSE [6].

Ehrhart [7] suggested that SL includes two major elements: ethical behavior and concern for followers. Yang et al. [6] concluded that SL was positively related to OBSE. Elloy and Randolph [9] declared that “Super Leader” behaviors, which help employees to realize their capacity for decision making, had positive relations with employees’ level of Organizational-Based Self-Esteem (OBSE).

OBSE is a role-specific type of self-esteem that portrays peoples’ beliefs about their value and competence as an organizational member “I’m valued around here” [10]. OBSE is a component of overall self-esteem that, in turn, is a facet of self-identity that is an even broader variable [11]. OBSE refers to the degree to what extent a person believes in himself or herself to be able, important, and worthy as an organizational member [12]. According to Kanning and Hill [13], OBSE is a key psychological variable as shown in past research, for example, positive relations were confirmed between self-esteem and intrinsic motivation, performance, job satisfaction as well as identification, and commitment. Organizational commitment, career motivation, and CC are some examples of more modern determinants of career success that have been examined [14]. Employees with high OBSE believe themselves to be able, significant, and worthy as organizational members [12].

Moreover, the servant leader surpassed self-interest and concentrate on creating opportunities that enable their followers to grow and develop [15]. Such behaviors can assist employees to achieve their career goals and raise their true potential [16].

Career commitment (CC) refers to “the strength of one’s motivation to work in a chosen career role”[17, P. 59]. It would seem essential to career progression and development CC is pertinent to the practical concerns of persons and organizations [18]. It signals to occupational commitment[19]; professional commitment [20]; or career motivation [21]. It has become a crucial source of occupational meaning and continuity as institutions become flatter and less capable to provide secure jobs or careers [18].

The four important gaps were found in the past literature about SL, OBSE, and CC need further studies to better understand those variables and their relations with other factors in organizations. Firstly, although practical researchers have begun to examine the influence of SL on followers’ attitudes and performance [22]. None of them didn’t address its relation with CC (Review Table 1). Secondly, Walumbwa et al. [23] called for further studies that go beyond examining the effect of SL on followers’ attitudes, However, studies have yet to fully understand the psychological mechanism of SL [24]. Thirdly, there is a lack of studies relating OBSE to career constructs that can create avoid in the fields’ understanding of esteem [25]. Fourthly, although CC would seem important to career progression and development; there is a limited study about it [25], owing to the longitudinal nature of careers [26]. This study, therefore, attempts to fill in these gaps by examining the direct influence of SL on CC, and the indirect relationship between them via OBSE as a mediating variable.

Table 1
The mediating and outcomes in servat leadership’s literatures

Authors Idependent variables Mediating variables Outcomes

(Kool, 2012) justice and optimism Commitment to change

(Haar, et al., 2017) work-life balance work engagemen

(Goh &Low, 2014) Trust in leaders organizational commitment

(Akbari, et al., 2014) Servant leadership job involvement organizational identity

(Song, et al., 2015) knowledge-sharing climate team performance

(Abid, et al., 2015) trust in leadership OCB

(Schwarz, et al., 2016) public service motivation job performance

(Chughtai, 2018) OBSE employees’ life satisfaction

Authors	Idependent variables	Mediating variables	Outcomes
(Kool, 2012)		justice and optimism	Commitment to change
(Haar, et al., 2017)		work-life balance	work engagemen
(Goh &Low, 2014)		Trust in leaders	organizational commitment
(Akbari, et al., 2014)	Servant leadership	job involvement	organizational identity
(Song, et al., 2015)		knowledge-sharing climate	team performance
(Abid, et al., 2015)		trust in leadership	OCB
(Schwarz, et al., 2016)		public service motivation	job performance
(Chughtai, 2018)		OBSE	employees’ life satisfaction

In summary, this study has two objectives. Firstly, it aims to test empirically the possible effect of SL on CC and the second is to extend the SL-CC relation by examining the mediating effect of OBSE on this relationship. By doing so, it is expected to explore how SL shapes employee’s OBSE further affecting their CC. Therefore, this study could be positioned as a mediating model.

By providing practical support for these arguments, the current study hopes to make several important theoretical and empirical contributions. Firstly, this study sheds light on SL, which has received increasing interest in both the popular press and the academic literature [27]. Secondly, this study enriches the literature by investigating the relationship between SL and the follower’s attitudes[22, 23]. Thirdly, from reviewing Table 1 and from my knowledge this study is the first one to explore the impact of SL on employees’ CC. The current study utilizes social exchange theory to advance the exploration of the psychological mechanism between Sl and followers’ attitudes. Fourthly, by examining the mediating role of the potential intervening variable. This study extends prior studies by showing underlying mechanisms that are responsible for the influence of SL on CC. OBSE as a mediator of the SL and CC relation generates new insights on its impacts. In addition, this study to my knowledge is the first one to examine the mediating role of OBSE in the relation between SL and CC (Review Table 1 and Table 2). The results of the study will benefit employees, organizations, and society.

Table 2

OBSE as a mediating variable in past studies

Authors	Independent variables	Dependent variables	sample	Main findings
(Ferris, et al., 2009)	Organizational supports	organizational deviance	237 working university alumni	OBSE fully mediated the relation between organizational supports and organizational deviance.
(Abas, et al., 2015)	perceived organizational support	counterproductive work behavior	660 public service officers serving in the Malaysian ministries	OBSE fully mediating the relationship between POS and CWB-O and CWB-I.
(Royle, 2010)	Positive, negative affect	OCB	two different samples: an organizational sample of 105 employees and an amalgam sample of 187 working adults	Findings indicate that OBSE mediates the negative affect – OCB relationship.
(Goh &Low, 2014)	Perceived Organizational Support	Organizational Identification	325 employees alumni (including Those who attended short courses).	organization based self-esteem Partially mediated the relationship between perceived organizational support and Organizational identification.
(Lee &Peccei, 2007)	Perceived organizational support	affective commitment	The data used in the present study were collected as part of a larger research project designed to examine the impact of the 1997 financial crisis and of downsizing on a range of employee attitudes and behaviors in the two case study banks	OBSE was a significant mediator of the POS– AC relationship in both organizations.
(Arshadi &Damiri, 2013)	Job stress	Turnover intention; job performance	286 employees of Iranian National Drilling Company (INDC)	Organization-based Self-esteem (OBSE) significantly moderated the relationship of job stress with turnover intention and job performance.
(Yang, et al., 2018)	servant leadership and job social support	family satisfaction and quality of family life experienced by the employees’ spouses	222 bank employees and their spouses in Southwest China	OBSE fully mediates the positive effects of servant leadership and job social support on family satisfaction and quality of family life.
(Chughtai, 2018)	servant leadership	employees’ life satisfaction	160 Pakistani employees who were working on a full-time basis in a large tractor manufacturing company	OBSE fully mediated the effects of servant leadership on life satisfaction.
(Chung &Yang,, 2017)	Workplace ostracism	workplace behaviors	Data were collected using a three-wave self-reported questionnaire in South Korea	OBSE to fully mediate the relationship between workplace ostracism and helping behavior, voicing behavior, and in-role behavior.

2 Theoretical background and hypotheses development

2.1 The relationship between SL AND CC

SL can be described as a leadership approach by which leaders set aside their self-interest and altruistically work for the benefit of their subordinates and the communities in which they operate [28]. Ehrhart [7] suggested that SL includes two major elements: ethical behavior and concern for followers. Greenleaf and Spears [29] explore SL as a leader’s desire to motivate and guide subordinates, offer hope and provide a more caring experience through established quality relationships.

Furthermore, SL is characterized by a focus on subordinates’ growth and empowerment, and on leader’s altruism, empathy, sense of ethics, and community stewardship [1]. Servant leaders put the interests, needs, and aspirations of others before their own [1]. Whetstone [30] highlighted the imperative of servant-leaders to serve the desires and needs of subordinates should subrogate the leader’s interests. According to the findings of Abdelmotaleb et al. [31] For Egyptian nurses with lower prosocial drive, the link between servant leadership and upward voice was larger than for those with higher prosocial motivation, SL is built on the Social Exchange Theory (SET) [32]. Social Exchange Theory is one of the most effective conceptual paradigms for understanding behaviors [33]. It builds on the idea that resource exchange happens in an interaction between two parties [34]. The high-quality exchange between a leader and followers displays high levels of trust with each other [35]. SET provides an explanation based on how SL affects the relationship of followers to establish trust with their leader [1]. According to SET, servant-leader put subordinates’ benefit first, assist subordinates to succeed, provide timely help, fully communicated and reasonable course of work, etc. [36].

As today’s work-life does not ensure lifelong employment in a particular organization, employees are motivated to develop a commitment to their careers rather than employer [37]. Moreover, CC affects an individual’s attitudes toward their organization because they may need to change the organization in the future [38]. It refers to occupational commitment [19]; professional commitment [20]; or career motivation [21]. It has become a crucial source of occupational meaning and continuity as institutions become flatter and less capable to provide secure jobs or careers [18]. It refers to attention to building a career that is a meaningful and lifelong pursuit and operationally. In addition, it can be regarded as the attitude of a person towards vocation or professional occupation [39].

Leaders can effectively encourage subordinates to attain organizational goals by enhanced job performance and a higher sense of CC [40]. Gruneberg [41] found that the nature of supervision he/she receives from his/her leader plays a key role in determining CC and job performance, and indeed productivity.

Servant leaders focus on the development of their subordinates through acting as role models who support, allow their followers to participate in decision making, exhibit ethical behavior, and emphasize the significance of serving the wider community in which they are embedded [42, 43]. Moreover, they reinforce the significance of serving others within and outside the institution through their behavior, which provides important cues that serving others is a distinguishing characteristic of the firm. Furthermore, servant leaders portray the organization as providing a nurturing environment for employees to grow and develop, so they may play a key role in supporting their followers’ CC. Based on this argument, the following hypothesis was developed:

H1: SL is positively related to CC.

2.2 The mediating role of OBSE

OBSE was described as the degree to which a person believes him/herself to be able, important, and worthy as a member of an organization [44]. Self-Consistency Theory (SCT) [45] supposes that as our self-esteem in a domain varies, so it too does our behavior, that is, we attempt to behave consistently with our self-perceptions [46]. The basic assumption of Self- Consistency Theory (SCT) is that self-conceptions are crucial for survival because they enable people to predict and control the nature of social reality [47]. Individuals are therefore encouraged to maintain their self-view, which they do by thinking and behaving in ways that conserve their conceptions of self [48]. SCT is built on the once-dominant social psychological theories of cognitive consistency [49].

Chen et al. [50] concluded that those individuals who perceive that the firm was assisting them in their goals and desires had higher levels of OBSE and, as a result, higher levels of organizational commitment and performance. Elloy and Randolph [9] declared that “super leader” behaviors, which help members to perceive their capacity for decision making, had positive links with employees’ level of OBSE. Moreover, past literature had concluded that OBSE had a positive relationship with work motivation and intrinsic motivation [51] career satisfaction [52]; internal locus of control [53]; organizational commitment, job involvement, OCB, in-role job performance [54]; self-efficacy[55, 56]. Judge and Bono [52] concluded that OBSE was related to career satisfaction. Researchers concluded that people with high OBSE had greater work motivation and intrinsic motivation [51], and achieve higher level performance [57]; show a stronger career orientation or less interested in slowing down on the job [25]. It often involves themselves with a positive behavior that is consistent with his or her positive assessment of himself or herself [58].

Chughtai [59] stated that there are two major reasons to anticipate that SL has a positive impact on OBSE. SL behaviors such as developing employees, providing participation in decision making, expressing genuine care and concern, and creating an environment of trust within the organization might signal to the employees that they are valued, important, and capable part of the institution [46]. These types of messages, in turn, are likely to enhance OBSE [12]. Both Chughtai [59] and Yang et al. [6] concluded that SL was positively related to OBSE. On the other side, the development of high CC requires a great deal of effort on the part of an individual since the variable combines affective, cognitive, and behavioral components. It is those employees who feel good enough about themselves to exert the energy to be active in their organizational roles who are likely to be committed to their careers [25]. Carson et al. [25] found that employees with high OBSE reported stronger CC. Table 2 shows the examples of past studies that examined the OBSE as a mediating variable.

Based on the aforementioned arguments, this study contends that SL shapes employee OBSE further affecting their CC. Thus, this study proposes the following hypotheses:

H2: OBSE mediates the relationship between SL and CC.

Figure 1 depicts the suggested model.

Fig. 1

The proposed Model.

3 Method

3.1 Sample and procedures

To validate the hypotheses empirically, the data were collected from employees who worked full time in a large Egyptian travel and tourism company with 25000 employees. This company is one of the leading companies in the field of tourism and hotels in Egypt and the Arab world, which has great experience in this field. It offers its services not only in Egypt but also around the world, in Europe, Middle East, the USA, and Japan (https://www.hotac-eg.com/misr-travel-company).

Tourism as a business is asserting itself as the engine of Egypt’s economic development. In 2013, the tourism sector employed about 12.6 percent of Egypt’s workforce, serving about 14.7 million tourists, and providing incomes of nearly $19bn [60]. Egypt accrued $6.1bn in tourism revenue in 2015, as the total number of tourists dropped by 6 percent to 9.3 million and the total number of tourist nights declined by 14 percent. Tourism in the first half of 2018 jumped by some 77 percent to $4.8 billion (Egyptian Ministry of Tourism, 2015).

The tourism sector in most countries suffers from several problems including a low-educated workforce, high turnover among front-line employees, low job satisfaction, low pay, and poor working conditions such as very long hours, autocratic, and untrained supervision [61, 62]. Yildiz, Temur, Beskese and Bozbura [63] indicated that “leadership and management,” with “development-oriented career management activities” are the most essential factors having the greatest impact on employee retention. In addition, Improved SL is one possible way of addressing these problems [64]. moreover, CC was found to be significantly and negatively related to turnover [65].

Depending on a simple random sampling method with a size (n) of 760, utilizing Krejcie’s and Morgan’s table (population size N = 25000, with 95% confidence, and 3.5% margin of error). The selection process involved the picking of pieces of paper in a box without replacement until 760 employees were selected. The management of the company was approached for approval to perform the study.

A total of 760 questionnaires were distributed to the participants. 619 questionnaires were returned, however out of those returned 82 were incomplete. Therefore, only 537 questionnaires were used for analysis and representing a 70.6% return rate. This high response rate was attained since response-enhancing techniques were adopted, such as interpersonal connections, identification number, hand delivery, and positive reciprocation [66]. Compared to other scholars with a 100 percent response rate for Hui, et al. [67], and 98.25% for Zhang et al. [68], our high response rate was reasonable. In terms of ethical consideration, all respondents were volunteers, their anonymity was ensured, and they didn’t receive anything in return for their participation. The data were collected from respondents in their workplaces within a period of four months, from May to September 2017.

The participating employees comprised 89% of male, 71.3% were between 20– 39 years of age, and 69% had received a university degree. The participants held a range of positions in the travel and tourism company, such as managers, tour guides, senior travel consultants, administrative officers, and clerks.

3.2 Questionnaire design and structure

This study was performed in Egypt and the measures were initially constructed in English, a standard translation and re-translation procedure were utilized to ensure equivalence of scales between Arabic and English versions [69] to reduce the possibility of Common Method Bias (CMB), this study used measures that were previously tested and proven free from bias. The questionnaires were constructed based on scales developed by [44 , 70– 72]. It includes two parts. Part one was informed consent from which participants were to register and indicate their acceptance of taking part in the survey. Part two of the questionnaire had four sections like the first addresses the demographic variables, including gender, age, and educational level, the second lists the SL items, the items of the third lists the OBSE items, and the fourth lists the items about CC. The first three items are demographic, while the remaining (28) items are rated on a different point Likert Scale. I then pilot-tested the Arabic version using 53 employees of the participating company but who were not included in the final sample. Based on the feedback from the pilot- test, I reworded a few items to ensure clarity.

SL: It was assessed by using a 10-items scale developed by Winston and Fields [70], they portray essential behaviors, which distinguishes SL from other leadership types, especially, transformational and transactional leadership. Two items assessed appreciation of others, three items assessed concern for others, and five items assessed ethical behaviors. A sample item is “my leader does not practice what he/she advocates for others”. Participants completed the measure using a 7-point Likert Scale ranged from 7 “Strongly Agree” to 1 “Strongly Disagree”.

OBSE: It was evaluated with a 10-items scale developed by Pierce et al. [44]. sample items are “I count around here” and “ I am taken seriously”. Respondents were asked to indicate on a 7-point Likert Scale ranging from 7 “Strongly Agree” to 1 “Strongly Disagree”. The extent they believe in themselves that they are able, important and, worthy as an organizational member.

CC: It was evaluated by an 8-items were adopted from the study of Colarelli & Bishop [18] and Lee & Bruvold [73]. Sample item includes “I am happy to develop my career with the firm”. Participants were asked to indicate on a 5-point Likert Scale, where a range of 1 “Strongly Disagrees” to 5 “Strongly Agree” is used to measure their strength of motivation to work in a chosen career role

4 Results

The Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling (PLS-SEM) technique was performed to analyze the measurement [74] and structural models [75] utilizing PLS software.

4.1 Measurement model

The measurement model was created to assess the construct reliability (i.e, indicator reliability and internal consistency) and validity (i.e, convergent and discriminant validity). The results of Table 3 indicate that all item loadings ranged between 0.701 and 0.998 exceeded the minimum threshold level of 0.70 recommended by Hair et al. [75]. The assessment of the Composite Reliability (CR) illustrated that all the variables had a value greater than the cutoff value 0.70 recommended by Hair et al. [75]; and Cronbach’s alpha values for all scales exceeded the minimum threshold level of 0.70, thus indicating the reliability of all scales utilized in this study. An examination of the convergent validity was performed to assess the validity of the variables. the Average Variance Extracted (AVE) of all variables was greater than the cutoff value of 0.50 recommended by Fornell & Larcker [74], which confirms the convergent validity.

Table 3
item loadings, and convergent validity

construct Items Loadings CR AVE α

SL S1 0.915 0.980 0.829 0.977

S2 0.925

S3 0.960

S4 0.964

S5 0.969

S6 0.890

S7 0.902

S8 0.916

S9 0.831

S10 0.820

OBSE O1 0.844 0.954 0.676 0.947

O2 0.814

O3 0.802

O4 0.780

O5 0.897

O6 0.823

O7 0.756

O8 0.770

O9 0.885

O10 0.843

Career commitment C1 0.713 0.934 0.646 0.918

C2 0.706

C3 0.913

C4 0.933

C5 0.921

C6 0.915

C7 0.774

C8 0.701

construct	Items	Loadings	CR	AVE	α
SL	S1	0.915	0.980	0.829	0.977
	S2	0.925
	S3	0.960
	S4	0.964
	S5	0.969
	S6	0.890
	S7	0.902
	S8	0.916
	S9	0.831
	S10	0.820
OBSE	O1	0.844	0.954	0.676	0.947
	O2	0.814
	O3	0.802
	O4	0.780
	O5	0.897
	O6	0.823
	O7	0.756
	O8	0.770
	O9	0.885
	O10	0.843
Career commitment	C1	0.713	0.934	0.646	0.918
	C2	0.706
	C3	0.913
	C4	0.933
	C5	0.921
	C6	0.915
	C7	0.774
	C8	0.701

Finally, Harman’s single-factor technique was utilized to examine Common Method Bias. Three factors were loaded into a factor analysis. The findings illustrated that there are three constructs present and that they account for 73.092% of the total explained variance. The highest load factor accounts for 37.15% of the total variance explained. These findings indicate that common method variance is not important since no single factor emerges and no single factor accounts for the majority of the variances between scales.

4.2 Structural model

A step-by-step analysis was performed to offer a thorough analysis. In the first step, the focus was on the association between SL and CC. At the second step, the mediator OBSE was entered and the full structural model was evaluated. Figure 2 and Table 4 indicate the findings of step 1 in the mediation analysis. First, an evaluation of collinearity was conducted to investigate whether the predictor variables were closely linked with endogenous variables. The Variance Inflation Factor (VIF) of the predictor variables was 1 below 3, showing the absence of collinearity. Additionally, the Q² value generated by a blindfolding procedure was larger than zero (Q²= 0.026) showing the predictive relevance of the structural model [76]. The path analysis illustrates that SL is positively related to CC (B = 0.160, P < 0.01). Thus, H1 was supported.

Fig. 2

Structural model without the mediator.

Table 4

structural model assessment of model 1 (PLS path- model without mediator)

Endogenous variables	R²		Q²
CC	0.026		0.014
Relation	Path coefficient	T. Value (boostrap)	P value	Bias corrected 95% confidence intervals
SL- CC	0.160	0.4268	0.000	0.035	0.036

Next, the full structural model was evaluated by involving the OBSE variable (See Fig. 3 and Table 5). The Q² of the Full Structural Model was above zero and the (unreported) VIF was less than 3 for all predictor variables. The findings indicate that the positive impact of SL on CC remains significant (B = 0.081, P = 0.000). Similarly, SL exhibits a positive impact on OBSE (B = 0.324, P = 0.000), and OBSE, in turn, positively affects CC (B = 0.251, P = 0.000).

Fig. 3

Full structural model with the mediator.

Table 5

Structural model assessment of model 2 (PLS path- model with mediator)

Endogenous variables	R²		Q²
CC	0.065		0.038
OBSE	0.107		0.065
Relation	Path coefficient	T. Value (boostrap)	P value	Bias corrected 95% confidence intervals
OBSE CC	0.251	5.830	0.000	IL	UL
SL CC	0.081	4.531	0.000	0.046	0.117
SL OBSE	0.324	7.831	0.000

It is important to note that the relation between SL and CC is significant in steps 1 and 2 but with a difference of 0.079. These findings suggested that OBSE fully mediated the relation between SL and CC. Moreover, the 95% confidence interval (LLCI = 0.046, ULCI = 0.117, not containing zero) adds further evidence of the mediating effect. Therefore, H2 received support. Figure 2 depicts the Mediation Model.

5 Discussion and conclusion

The present study aimed to develop a mediation model to explore the mechanism underlying the relation between SL and CC. Overall, the results of the present study provide strong support for the hypothesized model and contribute to extant SL, OBSE, and CC research fields.

The results demonstrated that SL had a positive and significant relationship with CC, suggesting that when people perceive their leaders as the servant, they become more committed to their careers. This result consistent with the conclusion of Afolabi et al. [40] that the nature of supervision utilized by leaders in an institution in the process of daily affairs, and running of the institution can have considerable effects on an employee’s job performance and CC. In addition, it consistent also with the result of Grunberg [41] the nature of supervision he/she receives from his/her supervisor plays a crucial role in determining CC.

Servant leaders invest in the development of their subordinates by acting as role models who support their subordinates and involve them in decision-making, exhibit ethical behavior, and highlight the importance of serving the wider community in which they are embedded [43, 77]. Servant leaders affect organizational outcomes by fostering subordinates’ growth and well-being, particularly via the process of satisfying subordinates’ needs [22]. SL is unique in that the leader is realized as a “Servant” attending to subordinates’ needs [15]. Past researches supposed that servant-leaders foster more committed, engaged, satisfied, and better-performing followers [22, 78]. Servant leaders exhibit a sense of moral responsibility and respect for subordinates as they motivate subordinates to grow and develop [1]. The servant-leader acts ethically and empowers followers to grow and succeed, both personally and professionally [7].

Additionally, the results revealed that OBSE fully mediated the relationship between SL and CC, suggesting that when employees perceive their leaders as the servant, they are more likely to be committed to their careers through perceiving OBSE. This result consistent with the conclusion of Norman et al. [8] that OBSE fully mediates the relationship between different managerial roles and individual outcomes, such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, turnover, and absence intentions. In addition, it consistent also with the study of Yang et al. [6] who found that OBSE fully mediated the positive effects of SL and job social support on family satisfaction and quality of family life. SL assists to create a trusting and empowering environment in which people feel accepted and valued rather than rejected and excluded [15]. According to Pierce et al. [44] people high in OBSE seek to maintain and reinforce a positive view of themselves by working hard, performing well, and fulfilling more. Conversely, people with low OBSE have low confidence in their abilities, they often avoid activities that have the prospect of success out of fear of failure. And since their minds are fixed in failure, they shy away from even venturing at enhancing their performance [44].

5.1 Theoretical Implications

This paper contributes to the literature on leadership and CC in three ways. First, it extends the SL’s studies, especially SL’s research that is still in its precocious stages, and to gain legitimacy as a mainstream leadership theory. According to Vondey [103], there has been a flurry of interest in recent years surrounding a theory of SL and the dimensions that make up the variable. Furthermore, it answers the recommendation of Mayer et al. [24] that the studies should explore the processes explaining how a leadership type with such an explicit concentration on subordinates’ needs and inspiring positive individual outcomes can assist in achieving organizational objectives. Hence, by relating SL to CC for the first time, this study not only offers a new perspective on this concept but also provides evidence about how and why this leadership style can prove beneficial for organizations.

Social Exchange Theory (SET) [32] argues that behaviors are the product of perceptions and attitudes. This argument is tested in this study; the findings indicated that SL had a positive and significant effect on CC. This result supporting the idea of SET theory. According to SET, when servant leaders put subordinates’ benefit first, offered various assistant for subordinates to succeed, provided timely help, fully communicated and reasonable course of work, etc. [36]. More precisely, this finding provides initial evidence of the above relation in the tourism sector in Egypt. This result underscores the vital roles of leaders in regards to encouraging employee’s CC. This result is consistent with other empirical studies, which report that the nature of supervision that he/she receives from their leader plays a crucial role in CC [40, 41].

Although a few studies have examined the effects of SL on subordinate’s outcomes, not much is known about the underlying processes through which it affects these outcomes [79]. Thus, by exploring the mediating role of OBSE, this study provides useful insights into what servant leaders can do to improve the attitudes and behaviors of their subordinates. The findings suggest that leaders must work toward making their followers feel with OBSE when seeking to induce their commitment toward their careers. This finding supports the basic assumption of Self- Consistency Theory (SCT) [45], that self-conceptions are crucial for survival because they enable people to predict and control the nature of social reality [47].

Additionally, to the best of my knowledge, this study is the first one that has examined the consequences of SL in an Egyptian context. Egypt is a country, which is high on power distance [80], and in recent years has been ravaged by terrorism. The findings of this study suppose that the exhibition of SL behaviors can produce favorable consequences even in this unique context. These results are significant because they tend to dispel the widely held notion that SL is likely to prove more effective in societies, which are low on power distance [15]. The finding of this search seems to illustrate that SL can yield benefits across cultures.

5.2 Managerial implications

These results also suggest some managerial implications. First, as SL is a crucial leadership style for enhancing employee’s CC, to promote this servant behavior, leaders are advised to adopt a series of servant behavior, such as ethical behavior, concern for their subordinates, encouraging their subordinates to grow and succeed, both personally and professionally, listening, healing, stewardship, persuasion, and foresight. Moreover, organizations can utilize two strategies to develop servant leaders. Past literature had shown that individuals, who are high on agreeableness, have a strong desire to serve others, and have high ethical and moral standards are more likely to emerge as servant leaders [80]. Thus, by utilizing appropriate personality and integrity tests, organizations should attempt to identify and hire leaders who possess these characteristics. Furthermore, by utilizing suitable training programs, institutions should encourage their managers to exhibit SL behaviors. Specifically, these programs can focus on highlighting the importance of empowering employees, fulfilling their growth needs, and treating them with respect and dignity as servant leaders if they consistently display such behaviors in the organization.

Additionally, the results indicate that OBSE mediates the relationship between SL and CC. Organizational policies, procedures, and programs that lead to the enhancement of employee self-esteem healthily will be very beneficial both for organizations and for employees. Leaders should have the mission to improve their employees’ self-esteem to contribute to the attainment of organizational goals and as well as the personal goals of the members. Leaders are advised to inspire or motivate employees to participate in decision-making; this may help them to cultivate their feeling with OBSE. The leaders should give a fair assessment and fair treatment to their employees so they can feel their work achievements are valuable. Similarly, leaders should consider their followers and care for them.

OBSE enhancing managerial behaviors would likely benefit the employees, the organization, and society as a whole. Moreover, society will benefit considerably by promoting SL also, which is crucial for the success of organizations, which leads to lower unemployment rates and higher levels of income for individuals. Moreover, society will benefit by being able to identify who is more likely to engage in servant leader behavior and by further developing additional servant leaders. Being able to predict who will engage in servant leader behavior can benefit organizational leaders, and leaders from all aspects of society, such as religious leaders, political leaders, and community leaders.

5.3 Limitations and future research

The present study has some limitations that need to be handled. First, this study only examined SL effects on CC at the individual level. However, evidence suggests that SL can also be aggregated at the work group level [81]. Second, the relationship in the theoretical model followed the hypothesized causal order, since other potential factors may affect OBSE and CC during the process. It limits evidence to determine the causality experimental research is needed to confirm this relationship. Third, the current data was obtained from an Egyptian company; therefore, the findings may have been influenced by values and cultural contexts such as power distance, collectivism, and traditionalism [82 –84]. To establish the generalization for our results, future research must duplicate this study in some other vocational settings and cultures [83 –85]. Fifth, only OBSE was tested as a mediating variable, others such as Psychological Safety, Organizational Identification, Employee Advocacy, and Psychological Attachment are suggested to be studied in future research. Six, according to the results of Washington et al. [86] that female leaders demonstrated greater servant leadership than male leaders, and the finding of Van Engen et al. [87] women tend to be slightly more interpersonal in their leadership than men, future studies should try to examine the relationship between gender and SL. Lastly, moderating variables were not included, future researchers may test, for example, the degree to which some variables (e.g., trust in supervisor, organizational justice, and task interdependence) moderate the relationships among supportive leadership, proactive personality, and employee voice behavior [83, 84].

Footnotes

Acknowledgments

The author has no acknowledgments.

Appendix:

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