Servant leadership effectiveness: do religious atmosphere and housing price matter? social information-processing Perspective

Abstract

Leadership effectiveness is a result of the interaction between leadership style and the social and organizational environment. We draw on social information-processing theory and analyze how the interaction between servant leadership and the social environment (i.e., religious atmosphere and housing price in one region) influences employee behavior. We likewise measure geographic-proximity-based religious atmosphere and housing price variables on the basis of 25 geographically disparate branches of a company, including a sample of 82 supervisors and 351 employees. Multilevel analyses reveal that the interaction between servant leadership and religious atmosphere has a positive effect on employee helping behavior but not for employee voice behavior. Conversely, the interaction between servant leadership and housing price has a positive effect on employee voice behavior, but does not have such effect on employee helping behavior. We also discuss the theoretical and practical implications on leadership research.