Servant Leadership Style and High-Performance Work System Practices: Pathway to a Sustainable Jordanian Airline Industry

Rawan Alafeshat,Cem Tanova

doi:10.3390/su11226191

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine how servant leadership (SL) and high-performance work systems (HPWS) practices enable organizational performance, as shown by employee retention and employee satisfaction. Data was obtained from 300 full time employees in a private airline company in Jordan. The data was collected in three rounds, each separated by one-week time-lag. Structural equation modeling was used to test the proposed relationships and revealed that both servant leadership and HPWS practices were positively linked with employee satisfaction and retention, which were used as indicators of organizational sustainability. In order to understand how servant leadership and HPWS influence employee satisfaction and retention, we investigated the mediating role of employee engagement and discovered that it serves as a critical mechanism. The study affirmed that, in line with studies carried out in the west, servant leadership is also an effective leadership characteristic in the context of Jordan. Furthermore, the study helps to clarify the reason that servant leadership and HPWS lead to positive outcomes, due to the fact that these improve the engagement of employees. Thus, we understand that the increases in employee retention and satisfaction are due to the enhanced engagement of employees, and we show that engagement can be improved both by servant leadership and the application of HPWS in organizations. Consequently, the effectiveness and sustainability of the airline companies in Jordan will need to focus on primarily improving employee engagement.

Highlights

Servant leaders provide leadership with an emphasis on serving the goals of the group; the leadership is more based on enabling followers and is not seen a status symbol
The results indicated that high-performance work systems (HPWS) practices positively relate to EE (β = 0.346, p < 0.001), supporting Hypothesis 4 (H4)
All hypotheses were supported by the data obtained from 277 employees working in private airlines in Jordan, indicating that servant leadership and HPWS lead to increased employee satisfaction and retention, and that the mechanism that enables this relationship is employee engagement

Summary

Introduction

Servant leaders provide leadership with an emphasis on serving the goals of the group; the leadership is more based on enabling followers and is not seen a status symbol. This is a vital leadership style in any organization, focusing on empowering subordinates for organization sustainability, developing communication between subordinates and management, and serving the desires of followers [1,2,3]. In their review of the servant leadership literature, Parris and Peachey [6] state that there is an agreement that servant leadership is an important leadership theory and is related to both organizational effectiveness and individual well-being, a consensus still has not been reached on its definition. Other reviews have argued that a common theme of the various definitions of servant leadership is ‘selfless service’ [7]

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Discussion

Conclusion