IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/kap/jbuset/v188y2023i3d10.1007_s10551-023-05330-2.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Manufacturing Motivation in the Mundane: Servant Leadership’s Influence on Employees’ Intrinsic Motivation and Performance

Author

Listed:
  • Chad A. Hartnell

    (Georgia State University)

  • Amanda Christensen-Salem

    (Parallax Advanced Research)

  • Fred O. Walumbwa

    (Florida International University)

  • Derek J. Stotler

    (Georgia State University)

  • Flora F. T. Chiang

    (China Europe International Business School)

  • Thomas A. Birtch

    (University of Exeter)

Abstract

The manufacturing industry faces a trend in which employees’ work processes are being redesigned into simple, repetitive tasks that maximize performance and efficiency. This neo-Tayloristic business model reduces social interactions and stifles relationship building, leading to disgruntled employees and raising questions about leaders’ moral obligation as to the mechanisms they use to enhance employees’ performance at work. As an alternative to redesigning work processes, we contend that servant leaders can enhance employees’ overall performance by cultivating positive interpersonal dynamics at work where social connectedness flourishes. Integrating insights from self-determination theory with servant leadership’s moral foundations, we investigate the degree to which servant leadership fosters two elements of a relationally supportive social context, interactional justice climate and coworker support, that facilitate its influence on followers’ intrinsic motivation and, subsequently, their voice and in-role performance. Temporally-separated data collected from a sample of 296 employees and their supervisors situated in 44 teams yielded results that support our hypotheses. Results underscore the importance of servant leadership cultivating a positive relational context to increase employees’ intrinsic motivation and improve their behaviors at work.

Suggested Citation

  • Chad A. Hartnell & Amanda Christensen-Salem & Fred O. Walumbwa & Derek J. Stotler & Flora F. T. Chiang & Thomas A. Birtch, 2023. "Manufacturing Motivation in the Mundane: Servant Leadership’s Influence on Employees’ Intrinsic Motivation and Performance," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 188(3), pages 533-552, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:188:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05330-2
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-023-05330-2
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10551-023-05330-2
    File Function: Abstract
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s10551-023-05330-2?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Armin Pircher Verdorfer & Brigitte Steinheider & David Burkus, 2015. "Exploring the Socio-moral Climate in Organizations: An Empirical Examination of Determinants, Consequences, and Mediating Mechanisms," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(1), pages 233-248, November.
    2. 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).
    3. Mitchell J. Neubert & Emily M. Hunter & Remy C. Tolentino, 2022. "Modeling Character: Servant Leaders, Incivility and Patient Outcomes," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 178(1), pages 261-278, June.
    4. Ãœnal, Ali F. & Chen, Chao C. & Xin, Katherine R., 2017. "Justice Climates and Management Team Effectiveness: The Central Role of Group Harmony," Management and Organization Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 13(4), pages 821-849, December.
    5. Ozyilmaz, Adnan & Cicek, Serpil S, 2015. "How does servant leadership affect employee attitudes, behaviors, and psychological climates in a for-profit organizational context?," Journal of Management & Organization, Cambridge University Press, vol. 21(3), pages 263-290, May.
    6. Christensen-Salem, Amanda & Zanini, Marco Tulio F. & Walumbwa, Fred O. & Parente, Ronaldo & Peat, Daniel M. & Perrmann-Graham, Jaclyn, 2021. "Communal solidarity in extreme environments: The role of servant leadership and social resources in building serving culture and service performance," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 135(C), pages 829-839.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jinqiang Zhu & Shiyong Xu & Kan Ouyang & David Herst & Elaine Farndale, 2018. "Ethical leadership and employee pro-social rule-breaking behavior in China," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 17(1), pages 59-81, February.
    2. K. Praveen Parboteeah & Matthias Weiss & Martin Hoegl, 2024. "Ethical Climates Across National Contexts: A Meta-Analytical Investigation," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 189(3), pages 573-590, January.
    3. Maxim Egorov & Armin Pircher Verdorfer & Claudia Peus, 2019. "Taming the Emotional Dog: Moral Intuition and Ethically-Oriented Leader Development," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 160(3), pages 817-834, December.
    4. Michiel Frederick Coetzer & Mark Bussin & Madelyn Geldenhuys, 2017. "The Functions of a Servant Leader," Administrative Sciences, MDPI, vol. 7(1), pages 1-32, February.
    5. Shah Ali Murtaza & Asif Mahmood & Saima Saleem & Naveed Ahmad & Muhammad Suhail Sharif & Edina Molnár, 2021. "Proposing Stewardship Theory as an Alternate to Explain the Relationship between CSR and Employees’ Pro-Environmental Behavior," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(15), pages 1-15, July.
    6. Thomas Höge & Cornelia Strecker & Melanie Hausler & Alexandra Huber & Stefan Höfer, 2020. "Perceived Socio-moral Climate and the Applicability of Signature Character Strengths at Work: a Study among Hospital Physicians," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 15(2), pages 463-484, April.
    7. Christopher Chan & Subramaniam Ananthram, 2019. "Religion-Based Decision Making in Indian Multinationals: A Multi-faith Study of Ethical Virtues and Mindsets," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(3), pages 651-677, May.
    8. Le Vinh Nguyen & Jarrod Haar,, 2022. "Hospitality Leadership Competencies And Employee Commitment: New Insights From The Booming Hotel Industry In Vietnam," Tourism and Hospitality Management, University of Rijeka, Faculty of Tourism and Hospitality Management, vol. 28(2), pages 419-443, August.
    9. 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).
    10. Jing Xiu & Zhenduo Zhang & Zhigang Li & Junwei Zheng, 2019. "How Do Coworkers Aid in Coping with Emotional Exhaustion? An Experience Sampling Method Approach," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(16), pages 1-14, August.
    11. Chunlin Wu & Han Yao & Xin Ning & Lei Wang, 2021. "Emergence of Informal Safety Leadership: A Social–Cognitive Process for Accident Prevention," Production and Operations Management, Production and Operations Management Society, vol. 30(11), pages 4288-4305, November.
    12. A. Newman & G. Schwarz & B. Cooper & S. Sendjaya, 2017. "How Servant Leadership Influences Organizational Citizenship Behavior: The Roles of LMX, Empowerment, and Proactive Personality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 49-62, September.
    13. Jianfeng Jia & Fangjian Wu & Mingwei Liu & Guiyao Tang & Yujie Cai & Hailong Jia, 2023. "How leader-member exchange influences person-organization fit: a social exchange perspective," Asian Business & Management, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 22(2), pages 792-827, April.
    14. Tomasz Gigol & Katarzyna Kreczmanska-Gigol & Renata Pajewska-Kwasny, 2021. "Socially Responsible Leadership’s Impact on Stakeholder Management, Staff Job Satisfaction and Work Engagement," European Research Studies Journal, European Research Studies Journal, vol. 0(Special 4), pages 775-805.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:188:y:2023:i:3:d:10.1007_s10551-023-05330-2. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.