Spirituality and Servant Leader Behavior

Abstract

This empirical study was designed to examine the relationship of the personal spirituality beliefs of servant leaders to their actual behavior as servant leaders. For purposes of the study the Spiritual Assessment Scale was used to measure spirituality beliefs while the leadership portion of the Servant Organizational Leadership Assessment inventory was used to measure servant leadership behavior. The research subjects for the study were 62 managers and 97 subordinates who were employed by TD Industries in Dallas, Texas; an organization that purports to use servant leadership philosophy. The research results revealed that the more managers were perceived as servant leaders the more likely they were to have both stronger spirituality beliefs particularly in those related to moral philosophies that emphasize the virtues of honesty, humility, and service to others. Additionally, an ANOVA and post hoc pairwise multiple comparison indicated a difference in perception of servant leadership behavior due to years spent studying servant leadership principles and years employed at TD Industries.