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Servant leadership: The missing community component

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  • Meuser, Jeremy D.
  • Smallfield, Jarvis

Abstract

Research shows servant leadership has a strong positive impact on employees and the businesses they run. More than 300 peer-reviewed articles support the myriad benefits, including increased profit, improved work climate, and enhanced employee well-being and productivity. Servant leaders are knowledgeable, ethical people who bring value to organizations and the people they serve by developing followers via prioritizing work needs, valuing growth, empowering employees, and being sensitive to personal concerns. By doing this, servant leaders encourage followers to contribute to organizational goals, develop a sense of belonging, and increase confidence in their work and leadership skills, increasing happiness, health, and productivity. Servant leadership also uniquely involves a concern for the community. Our research shows that leaders have the least confidence in this most distinguishing aspect of servant leadership. We offer 32 practical ideas on implementing servant leadership with special attention to the community component to help leaders develop this valuable leadership style.

Suggested Citation

  • Meuser, Jeremy D. & Smallfield, Jarvis, 2023. "Servant leadership: The missing community component," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 66(2), pages 251-264.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:bushor:v:66:y:2023:i:2:p:251-264
    DOI: 10.1016/j.bushor.2022.07.002
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Ozgur Demirtas & Sean T. Hannah & Kubilay Gok & Aykut Arslan & Nejat Capar, 2017. "The Moderated Influence of Ethical Leadership, Via Meaningful Work, on Followers’ Engagement, Organizational Identification, and Envy," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 145(1), pages 183-199, September.
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