Servant leadership, leader effectiveness, and the role of political skill: A study of interscholastic sport administrators and coaches

Abstract

Servant leadership is a model of leadership based on ethics and benevolent service to others and has been associated with numerous positive outcomes for employees and organizations. Due to a limited number of studies examining servant leadership (SL) within sport, the purpose of this study was to investigate the relation of servant leadership and leader effectiveness outcomes in sport administration and to examine if political skill (i.e., how people influence others), was a moderator of servant leader effectiveness. A multilevel model was used to examine these questions within a sample of interscholastic athletic directors and head coaches. Findings revealed servant leadership was directly related to leader effectiveness (LE), affective organizational commitment (AOC), and job satisfaction (JS) of head coaches. Moreover, there was a significant negative interaction between servant leadership and political skill. The negative interaction may indicate that extreme values of servant leadership have opposite relations to leader effectiveness and other outcomes when political skill is present. Though a minimal effect, political skill detracts from LE in those who are perceived as exhibiting strong servant leader behaviors. Findings and limitations are discussed; questions for future research are suggested.