How and when servant leadership fosters employee voice behavior: evidence from Chinese local governments

Abstract

Servant leaders serve others and the public altruistically. Knowledge of the relationship between servant leadership and followers’ attitudes and behaviors in the public sector remains limited, despite its benefits. Drawing on social learning theory and the theory of leader–member exchange (LMX), this study analyzes the mechanism through which servant leadership influences employee voice behavior in the public sector and explores the moderating effect of LMX. To test our research hypotheses, we employ two-wave data from 134 leader–employee dyads working in the Administrative Approval Service Center in a northeastern Chinese city. The results indicate that servant leadership predicts employee prosocial values motives and further influences voice behavior. Moreover, LMX strengthens the relationship between servant leadership and prosocial values motives, and its indirect effect. Our study sheds light on how and when servant leadership affects employee voice behavior, with implications for public administration practices and promoting civil servants’ voice behavior.