Servant leadership, CSR perceptions, moral meaningfulness and organizational identification- evidence from the Middle East

Abstract

This article explores a novel process linking servant leadership (SL) to organizational identification (OI). In doing so, the study examines SL as an antecedent of internal corporate social responsibility (CSR) perceptions of employees and assesses moral meaningfulness as a moderator in the relationship between SL and OI through internal CSR perceptions. Utilizing a comparative institutional theoretical lens, it also explores how the SL-OI relationship varies across the UAE, Lebanon, and Tunisia. Two-wave and three-wave survey data are collected from employees working for international SMEs in the three countries. Findings show that the link between SL and OI can be explained by the proposed moderated mediation model and that the SL-OI relationship varies across the nations. Implications of these findings are discussed.