Perceived meaningfulness or ego depletion? A two-path model of servant leadership behaviors influence on intention to leave

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on the conservation of resources theory, this study integrates the positive and negative aspects of the impact of servant leadership behaviors on their own in the hospitality industry. Using leaders’ and followers’ paired data from 346 employees nested in 101 teams and analyzed using path regression methods. The results reveal that servant leadership behaviors were positively related to the leader’s ego depletion, and the leader’s ego depletion was positively associated with the leader’s intention to leave. Servant leadership behaviors were positively related to leaders’ perceived work meaningfulness, and followers’ agreeableness significantly moderated the relationship between servant leadership behaviors and leaders’ ego depletion and the relationship between servant leadership behaviors and leaders’ perceived work meaningfulness. These findings broaden our understanding of the effects of servant leadership behaviors and provide new ideas on how to intervene in the negative effects of servant leadership behaviors.