Determining the antecedents and outcomes of servant leadership

Abstract

This study utilized social consistency and social exchange theories to propose leadership motivation and self-concept variables as possible antecedents of servant leadership (SL). This is a departure from two past studies which established the leader’s behaviour, experience and personality as antecedents of SL. The study was based on cross-sectional survey methodology, and data acquired through multi-source to minimize common method variance. Data analysis was carried out using statistical package of social sciences, and the analyses of moments of structure software. Participants were managers and their subordinates from six organizations located in Lagos, Nigeria. Key findings of the study are self-efficacy (SE) is a critical variable because of its effect on SL and other antecedents; motivation-to-serve (MTS) is an antecedent and the primary motive for enacting SL behaviour; only one dimension of motivation-to-lead (MTL), non-calculative, is an antecedent of SL; and leader-member exchange, organizational citizenship behaviour and job satisfaction are either direct or indirect outcomes of SL. The tested model explained more variance in the outcomes of SL. Managerial implications include the use of SE, MTS and MTL as selection tools for managers, assigning future leaders as mentees to identified servant leaders through formal mentoring process established by the organization.