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A meta-analytic review of the consequences of servant leadership: The moderating roles of cultural factors

Author

Listed:
  • Yucheng Zhang

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)

  • Yuyan Zheng

    (Durham University)

  • Long Zhang

    (Hunan University)

  • Shan Xu

    (Southwestern University of Finance and Economics)

  • Xin Liu

    (Renmin University of China)

  • Wansi Chen

    (East China University of Science and Technology)

Abstract

The past decade has witnessed growing interests in empirically examining the effectiveness of servant leadership in management research. Our study reviews the literature on servant leadership and analyzes the relationship between servant leadership and its outcome variables. Drawing on social exchange theory, this study uses meta-analysis and find that servant leadership is positively related to followers’ job-related outcomes (e.g., psychological empowerment, organizational commitment, service quality), leader-related outcomes (e.g., leader effectiveness), and group-related outcomes (e.g., group service performance). Further, we find that the relationships between servant leadership and its outcomes are moderated by cultural factors (i.e., traditionality, masculinity, individualism, and power distance). Finally, we examine the incremental validity of servant leadership by taking transformational leadership into account and comparing their effects on job performance and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) via leader-member exchange (LMX). Implications for theory and practice are discussed, and an agenda for future research is proposed.

Suggested Citation

  • Yucheng Zhang & Yuyan Zheng & Long Zhang & Shan Xu & Xin Liu & Wansi Chen, 2021. "A meta-analytic review of the consequences of servant leadership: The moderating roles of cultural factors," Asia Pacific Journal of Management, Springer, vol. 38(1), pages 371-400, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:asiapa:v:38:y:2021:i:1:d:10.1007_s10490-018-9639-z
    DOI: 10.1007/s10490-018-9639-z
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    Cited by:

    1. Neubert, Mitchell J. & de Luque, Mary Sully & Quade, Matthew J. & Hunter, Emily M., 2022. "Servant leadership across the globe: Assessing universal and culturally contingent relevance in organizational contexts," Journal of World Business, Elsevier, vol. 57(2).
    2. Xuezhe Quan & Myeong-Cheol Choi & Xiao Tan, 2023. "Relationship between Organizational Climate and Service Performance in South Korea and China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(14), pages 1-14, July.
    3. Nur Mubin & Retno Purwani Setyaningrum & Fitri Rezeki, 2022. "Revealing the role of job involvement and employee loyalty as mediation variables: The effect of servant leadership on employee performance in plastic packaging company for bottled drinking water in t," International Journal of Business Ecosystem & Strategy (2687-2293), Bussecon International Academy, vol. 4(3), pages 23-36, July.
    4. Juan Pablo Araya-Orellana, 2022. "Assessment of the Leadership Styles in Public Organizations: an Analysis of Public Employees Perception," Public Organization Review, Springer, vol. 22(1), pages 99-116, March.

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