Understanding how and when servant leadership enhances taking charge: the resource perspective

Servant leadership has been found to motivate followers to express constructive voice, but why is this the case? Studies so far have identified a ‘can do’ mechanism that enables followers to speak up and a ‘reason to’ mechanism that promote their willingness to do so. Nevertheless, these mechanisms have not considered the role of servant leadership in energizing both leaders and followers, which facilitates followers' constructive voice through an ‘energized to’ mechanism. This study aims to unpack the ‘energized to’ mechanism to understand how and when servant leadership can motivate followers' constructive voice. Drawing from conservation of resources theory, we propose that servant leadership can contribute to both leaders' and followers' energy, particularly among leaders with higher self‐regulation ability. In turn, elevated energy levels in leaders and followers will promote followers' constructive voice. To test these hypotheses, we conducted a time‐lagged supervisor–subordinate matched survey. Results show that servant leadership increases both leaders and followers' energy and then followers' constructive voice, but this effect is observed only among leaders with high self‐regulation ability. This research offers new insights into how and when servant leadership not only energizes followers but also benefits the leaders themselves.

Using the conservation of resource perspective, this study empirically tested the moderating role of follower proactive personality between servant leadership and follower positive outcomes (psychological resilience and ownership). Previous literature remained confined to the theories that highlights the positive impact of servant leadership on the followers, ignoring the contingency perspective. The positive outcomes of servant leadership may not be categorized as a generic remedy for every employee working under a servant leader as each individual perceived resource gain may vary. Data of 348 responses gathered from the higher education institute faculty members working in Pakistan’s public sector universities using a self-reported questionnaire. The results indicate that servant leadership along with follower proactive personality work as a key ingredient in developing positive follower resilience. This study also found that it is not servant leadership alone itself that is positive, but its influence on followers also affected by the proactive personality type of the followers.

Grounding our research in social exchange theory and the conservation of resources perspective, we hypothesized a model that examines the effects of servant leadership (SL) on employees' workplace thriving via agentic work behaviors. To clarify the effects, employee core self-evaluations (CSEs) were investigated to determine boundary conditions on the relationship between SL and thriving. Data were collected at three points in time from 260 professionals across diverse functional backgrounds and industries. The analysis results confirmed an indirect effect from SL to workplace thriving via agentic work behaviors. Importantly, the moderation results demonstrated that the relationship between SL and workplace thriving is stronger when individuals have high CSEs. Implications for theory and practice are discussed.

Americans who came of age during and immediately following World War II have recently become a central feature for more broadly understanding volunteerism, as well as civic participation, in the United States. Using data from the Stanford-Terman Study we examine women's community service participation and leadership over the period 1940–1960. The women studied moved in and out of community service over time, with patterns of participation showing a great deal of variability. Both the likelihood of involvement in community service and community service leadership peaked during midlife. Age-related patterns were largely accounted for by changes in correlated resources. Beyond age patterns, the marks of history are apparent in an increasing investment in volunteerism between 1940 and 1960 for this generation of American women. The findings of this study both support and extend a resource perspective on volunteering.