Does Servant Leadership Affect Public Employees’ Innovative Behavior? The Mediating Role of Organizational Identity

Abstract

Objective: In the context of China’s deepening reform era, innovation is the first driving force leading development. Involving a sample of 576 public employees from government agencies in Yunnan, China, the present study investigates the impact of servant leadership on public employees’ innovative behavior, as well as the underlying mechanisms of this relationship. Theoretical Framework: According to social identity theory, organizational identity signifies the extent to which individuals acknowledge and identify with their organization. Previous research has shown that leadership styles indirectly affect employee behaviors (e. g., innovative behaviors) through employees’ cognition and emotion [16-18], therefore, organizational identity may be a potential mediating variable in the correlation between servant leadership and the innovative behavior exhibited by employees. Method: Data was collected between September 2023 and January 2024 among public sector employees in Kunming, located in the Yunnan province. The data was collected in two phases at different time points. First, we distributed questionnaires among part-time MPA students in a university in Yunnan province in the first stage. Then, we continued to distribute questionnaires among full-time public employees at various public sectors in Kunming city. Results and Discussion: The results revealed a positive impact of servant leadership on the innovative behavior of Chinese public employees. Additionally, organizational identity partially mediated the association between servant leadership and the innovative behavior of Chinese public employees. These findings may provide some suggestions for the public organizations in China. Research Implications: The present study also has several practical implications for policy-makers within the public sector. First, public organizations ought to attach importance to the servant leadership because it can effectively promote employees’ innovative behavior. Specifically, public organizations can regard the traits of servant leadership as a criterion for selecting leaders within the public sector. By doing so, public organizations can encourage servant leadership style by selecting and promoting those employees with awareness and traits of serving others. Originality/Value: After deleting invalid questionnaires, 576 completed questionnaires were obtained finally. Of all the participants, 24% (n = 138) was male and 76% (n = 438) was female.77.6% of the participants were under the age of 26 years (n = 447). 61.8% (n = 356) have worked less five years in the public sector.