Much has been written about the general moral duty to love one’s neighbors. In this article, I explore the specific application of this moral duty in the work setting. I argue from a secular perspective that individuals have the moral duty to love their stakeholders. Loving one’s stakeholders is an affective valuing of the stake-related values these stakeholders pursue and as such is the real recognition of one’s stakeholders as stakeholders and of oneself as a stakeholder of one’s stakeholders. This (...) moral concept of stakeholder love offers promising contributions to stakeholder theory, leadership theories, and ethical theories in general and business ethics theories in particular. (shrink)

Servant leadership has been theorized as a model where the moral virtue of humility co-exists with action-driven behavior. This article provides an empirical study that tests how these two apparently paradoxical aspects of servant leadership interact in generating follower engagement, while considering the hierarchical power of the leader as a contingency variable. Through a three-way moderation model, a study was conducted based on a sample of 232 people working in a diverse range of companies. The first finding is that humble (...) leaders showed the highest impact on follower engagement regardless of their hierarchical position. Less humble leaders in lower hierarchical positions seem to be able to compensate for that through a strong action-oriented leadership style. Most notably for leaders in high hierarchical positions, the moral virtue of humility seems to strengthen the impact of their action-oriented leadership the most. These findings provide empirical support and a better understanding of the interplay between the moral virtue of humility and the action-oriented behaviors of servant leadership. (shrink)

Servant leadership offers a compelling ideal of self-sacrificing individuals who put the needs of others before their own and cultivate a culture of growth in their organisations. Although the theory’s attempts to emphasise the moral, emotional and relational dimensions of leadership are laudable, it has primarily assumed a decontextualised view of leadership untouched by power. This article aims to problematise servant leadership by undertaking an intersectional analysis of an Asian cis-male heterosexual senior manager in Australia. Through in-depth interviews with the (...) manager and his staff, the article shows how his attempts to practice servant leadership were informed by intersecting power dynamics of race, gender, sexuality, age and class that subordinated him to white power. The findings demonstrate the ways servant leadership is necessarily embedded in wider power structures that shape who gets to be a “servant leader” and who remains merely a “servant”. (shrink)

Emotion management in the workplace is drawing increasing attention from researchers. However, they still know little about how positive leadership affects employees’ emotional labor. Building on social information-processing theory, we examine whether and how a servant leadership style influences employees’ emotional labor. Using a sample of 305 employees in 81 work units of 25 subcorporations at a food company in China, we find that servant leadership relates negatively to surface acting but relates positively to deep acting at work. We also (...) find that the indirect effect of servant leadership on surface/deep acting via affective trust is stronger than the indirect effect via cognitive trust. Our research reveals that servant leadership influences employees’ emotional labor more through affective trust than cognitive trust. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of our findings. (shrink)

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused a record global crisis, particularly and extremely, for the service sectors. Due to extensive security measures, many service sector employees have to work remotely to maintain services. Drawing upon the conservation of resources theory, this research investigates the impact of servant leadership on the task performance of employees in virtual working environments during the COVID-19 crisis. Our theoretical model was tested using data collected from 335 individual employees in the education sector of Pakistan. SPSS version (...) 26.0 was applied to find the hypothesized relationship between the study variables. To find the indirect mediating effect, we applied Model 4; for moderation, we applied Model 1; and for the moderation and mediation effect, we applied Model 7 of the Process Macro model of Hayes. The results of the study revealed that servant leadership is positively related to task performance in a virtual environment during crises. Furthermore, psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between servant leadership and task performance. Perceived supervisor support positively moderates the relationship between servant leadership and task performance. Moreover, the indirect effect of servant leadership on task performance via psychological empowerment is moderated by perceived supervisor support. The results provided guidance to the educational sector on how to lead effectively in times of crisis when service sector employees work predominantly in virtual environments. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed. (shrink)

Various studies have recognized the importance of humility as a foundational aspect of virtuous leadership and have revealed the beneficial effects of leader humility on employee moral attitudes and behaviors. However, these findings may overestimate the benefits of leader humility and overlook its potential costs. Integrating person–supervisor fit theory and balance theory with the humility literature, we employ a dyadic approach to consider supervisor and employee humility simultaneously. We investigate whether and how the congruence of supervisor and employee humility influences (...) employee citizenship and deviance behaviors. We conducted a multilevel, multiphase, and multisource field study to test our hypotheses. The results of cross-level polynomial regression analyses revealed that when supervisors and employees were incongruent in humility, employees experienced higher levels of negative affect toward supervisors. Also, compared to those in low–low congruent dyads, employee negative affect toward supervisors was lower in high–high congruent dyads. The results further revealed asymmetric incongruence effects: employees experienced the highest levels of negative affect toward supervisors when their own humility was lower than their supervisors’. In addition, we found that employee negative affect toward supervisors mediated the impacts of supervisor–employee congruence in humility on employee organizational citizenship behavior and counterproductive work behavior. (shrink)

Recently, various studies have suggested that ethical leadership offers an important antecedent of fluid internal workplace relationships, which are conducive of internal social capital. Yet existing research has neither inquired into potential mediators of this relationship nor addressed the role of other distinct leadership strategies in encouraging such a valuable capital. This study advances previous research by examining if servant leadership, which seeks to put followers’ interests and needs first, can account for social capital variance within the work group, which (...) is the building block of organizations. New to the literature, we also investigate whether group citizenship behavior mediates this relationship. A sample of 352 work groups, spanning 187 hotels located in Spain, reveal that group citizenship behavior partially mediates the positive influence of servant leadership on group social capital. Managers can use these findings to lead their businesses in a more socially friendly direction while also building group social capital, which can improve the competitiveness of their work groups, and the entire business. (shrink)

Drawing upon the theory of virtue ethics, this study builds a decision tree predictive model to explore the anticipated impact of good traits on socially responsible consumption. Using R statistical software, we generate a classification tree and cross-validate the model on two independent datasets. The results indicate that the virtuous traits of self-efficacy, courage, and self-control, as well as the personality traits of openness and conscientiousness, predict socially responsible purchase and disposal behavior. Remarkably, the largest segment of socially responsible consumers (...) in the study scored high in self-efficacy and openness. This result suggests that marketers should focus on these good traits when creating advertisements to encourage sustainable consumption. Our study contributes to enhancing knowledge about the social and psychological aspects of the sustainability movement and provides a new analytical approach to predicting socially responsible consumption. (shrink)

As a rapidly growing field of study, social entrepreneurship is increasingly receiving attention from scholars and practitioners because social ventures have the potential to contribute to economic growth and social innovation. Surprisingly, the role of leadership in social venture growth has received very limited attention. One reason for this omission may be that entrepreneurship and leadership evolved as separate domains. Applying leadership theory to social ventures can help scholars and managers understand how social entrepreneurs can manage the environmental risks, dual (...) mission, and legitimacy issues of social ventures. Our goal for this conceptual paper is to describe how social entrepreneurs can align employees with the seemingly inconsistent goals of social and economic value creation to improve venture performance. We do so by concentrating on a leadership style applicable to their dual mission—servant leadership. Drawing from theoretical underpinnings and examples from single case studies, we offer a research framework and related propositions that delineate how servant leadership style affects social venture performance through the perception of work meaningfulness, well-being, and job engagement. We contribute to theory building by uncovering how social entrepreneurs can share their personal passions, values, and obligations with their employees and inspire them to meet their dual mission, paying attention to the context of social ventures and the attributes of the employees they attract. We also discuss theoretical and practical implications for social entrepreneurship and offer future research directions. (shrink)

Persistent and pervasive rudeness and lack of respect are unfortunately common in workplaces today. The deleterious effects of this incivility at work may be even worse than previously demonstrated, impacting not only employee victims but also trickling down to those who employees contact. However, we propose that leaders who prioritize their followers’ needs above their own, also known as servant leaders, may be a critical preventative mechanism to reduce group-level incivility through promoting a virtuous climate. Applying social learning theory and (...) social information processing theory, we argue that servant leaders role model virtuous character that contributes to a virtuous climate that influences group members to reduce incivility and, in turn, treat others well. We utilize the healthcare setting to support this hypothesized process across multi-source measures of incivility from coworkers and team supervisors and three indicators of quality of patient care. Specific findings and implications for managers in healthcare settings and beyond are discussed. (shrink)

This paper examines love as a concept for advancing our understanding of the ethics of leadership. We draw upon writings that consider love to be at the heart of modern subjects’ search for meaning and affective attachment to organisation – necessitating, we argue, an exploration of leadership too in these terms. Existing works on leaders’ supposed love for those they lead are considered. These serve as a springboard from which to undertake a philosophical examination of two dominant formulations of an (...) ethics of love in Western culture: neighbour and agapeic love. Neither of these conceptualisations, we argue, suffice as an understanding of leadership. We draw upon Kierkegaard to highlight the category error of conceptualising leadership in terms of neighbour love, and feminist writings to highlight the deeply problematic sacrificial demand at the heart of agapeic love. Drawing attention to the plenitude of other loves yet to be explored by business ethics scholarship, we propose two organising foci for advancing our understandings: a focus on humanising love by leaders, and a focus on problematising love of leaders. (shrink)

Abraham Maslow’s needs theory is one of the most influential motivation theories in management and organizational behavior. What are its anthropological and ethical presuppositions? Are they consistent with sound business philosophy and ethics? This paper analyzes and assesses the anthropological and ethical underpinnings of Maslow’s needs theory from a personalistic framework, and concludes that they are flawed. Built on materialistic naturalism, the theory’s “humanistic” claims are subverted by its reductionist, individualistic approach to the human being, which ends up in a (...) needs-based ethics that understands goodness, virtue, and rights in instinctual, subjectivistic, and relativistic terms. Its moral imperative, “Be yourself!,” is either the materialistic fiat of genetic drives or the voluntaristic command of unbridled will. Significant implications for business educators, managers, and organizations are discussed, along with recommendations. Managerial theories and approaches that reduce personality to individuality are inconsistent with proper anthropological and ethical business principles. Adopting those individualistic theories may ultimately undermine organizational effectiveness, and the very essence of business as human activity and of management as human calling. Instead, personalistic anthropology and virtue ethics, rooted in Aristotelian–Thomistic thought, soundly account for properly human nature and the good life. Business educators and practitioners are encouraged to embrace this integral, truly humanistic framework for motivation, and management theory and practice. (shrink)

The number of traumatic events that occur worldwide is increasing, yet the literature pays little attention to their implications for leader development. This paper calls for a consideration of how collective trauma such as genocides and the Holocaust can shape the cognition of leaders who are second- and third-generation descendants. Drawing on research on the transgenerational transmission of collective trauma, social learning, social identity and psychodynamic theories, we identify three mechanisms through which collective trauma can be transmitted to leaders: cultural (...) artifacts, community events and family narratives. In this article, we introduce the topic of collective trauma in leader development and draw on the theories of psychodynamic, social identity and social learning to explain how the transmission of collective trauma occurs. We also propose how the transmitted trauma shapes leader cognition, values and behaviors. This framework can serve as a basis for future theory-building in leader and leadership development that will be key to the study of authentic and ethical leadership. (shrink)

Although considerable attention has been paid to the application of leadership in virtual communities, the field of live streaming has not been involved. This exploratory study aimed to explore how different broadcaster leadership traits influence audiences’ loyalty. And audience self-construal was chosen as a key moderator. The top 15 broadcasters from the regional rankings were selected from each of the two popular live streaming platforms, Douyu and YouTube, for the study. And we used snowball sampling with a link to an (...) online questionnaire as a recruitment procedure. 310 audiences with live streaming experience from the Chinese Mainland and Taiwan participated. Hierarchical linear modeling was adopted for the analysis. This study found that broadcasters with servant and charismatic leadership traits positively affected cognitive loyalty. Broadcasters with servant leadership traits also had a positive effect on conative loyalty. Additionally, independent self-construal negatively moderated the relationship between servant leadership and cognitive loyalty. Independent self-construal positively moderated the relationship between authoritarian leadership and conative loyalty. Furthermore, interdependent self-construal negatively moderated the relationship between charismatic leadership and conative loyalty. Interdependent self-construal positively moderated the relationship between authoritarian leadership and conative loyalty. These conclusions extend the understanding of broadcasters’ traits and audiences’ psychology concerning the booming phenomenon of live streaming and can help platform managers motivate audiences’ loyalty on these platforms. (shrink)