Servant Leadership and Turnover Intentions of Self-Initiated Expatriates: A Moderated Mediation

Abstract

We draw on conservation of resources and organizational identification theories to model and empirically examine the influence of servant leadership on the turnover intentions of self-initiated expatriates (SIEs) employed in a single multinational educational organization. We surveyed 168 SIEs working as self-initiated expatriates in English-speaking, American-style schools located in 13 countries around the globe. We found that servant leadership negatively affected SIEs’ turnover intentions through the mediating mechanism of SIE organizational embeddedness. The mediation was moderated by SIE organizational identification such that higher levels of organizational identification weaken the influence of servant leadership on organizational embeddedness. This suggests that servant leadership reduces SIE turnover intentions, especially during critical onboarding and socialization.