The Servant Leadership Survey: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure

By Dirk van Dierendonck, Inge Nuijten. Journal of business and psychology, 2010

878 citations recorded by the source corpus.

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to describe the development and validation of a multi-dimensional instrument to measure servant leadership.Design/Methodology/ApproachBased on an extensive literature review and expert judgment, 99 items were formulated. In three steps, using eight samples totaling 1571 persons from The Netherlands and the UK with a diverse occupational background, a combined exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis approach was used. This was followed by an analysis of the criterion-related validity.FindingsThe final result is an eight-dimensional measure of 30 items: the eight dimensions being: standing back, forgiveness, courage, empowerment, accountability, authenticity, humility, and stewardship. The internal consistency of the subscales is good. The results show that the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) has convergent validity with other leadership measures, and also adds unique elements to the leadership field. Evidence for criterion-related validity came from studies relating the eight dimensions to well-being and performance.ImplicationsWith this survey, a valid and reliable instrument to measure the essential elements of servant leadership has been introduced.Originality/ValueThe SLS is the first measure where the underlying factor structure was developed and confirmed across several field studies in two countries. It can be used in future studies to test the underlying premises of servant leadership theory. The SLS provides a clear picture of the key servant leadership qualities and shows where improvements can be made on the individual and organizational level; as such, it may also offer a valuable starting point for training and leadership development.

Subfields: Clinical Psychology, Demography, Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management

View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/e45823614f20333ddf09ad6a10886ed2ecb3403f

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Citations in the corpus

New Insights into Ethical Leadership: A Qualitative Investigation of the Experiences of Executive Ethical Leaders (2014, background): “…concepts, such as idealised influence, interactional fairness (Brown et al. 2005), transformational and transactional leadership (Kalshoven et al. 2011), authentic leadership (Walumbwa et al. 2007), responsible leadership (Voegtlin 2011) and servant leadership (van Dierendonck and Nuijten 2011).”
A multilevel study on servant leadership, job boredom and job crafting (2018, methodology): “In addition, servant leaders may motivate employees to seek ways to fully employ their capabilities andwork to the best of their abilities, bymaking sure they knowwhat is expected of them and by making them accountable for their work performance (Van Dierendonck and Nuijten, 2011).”
Humble Chief Executive Officers’ Connections to Top Management Team Integration and Middle Managers’ Responses (2014, background): “Furthermore, leadership approaches such as servant leadership (van Dierendonck and Nuijten, 2011), spiritual leadership (Fry, 2003), and Level 5 Leadership (Collins, 2001) include humility in their definitions of leadership.”
How leader humility helps teams to be humbler, psychologically stronger, and more effective: a moderated mediation model (2017, neutral): “Humility has been treated differently in different conceptualizations of SL (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006; Liden, Wayne, Zhao, & Henderson, 2008; Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008; van Dierendonck, 2011; van Dierendonck & Nuijten, 2011).”
From job demands and resources to work engagement, burnout, life satisfaction, depressive symptoms, and occupational health (2016, background): “For example, servant leadership (Van Dierendonck & Nuijten, 2011) as a social resource has been demonstrated to manifest as an increase employees’ job satisfaction (Cerit, 2009) and as a decrease in burnout symptoms (Babakus, Yavas, & Ashill, 2010), and may spill over to life satisfaction and…”
Reviewing Leadership Styles: Overlaps and the Need for a New ‘Full‐Range’ Theory (2017, neutral): “Forgiveness is the ability to let go of perceived wrongdoings and not carry past grudges to other situations (van Dierendonck and Nuitjen 2011).”