Servant leadership is attracting a broader audience today. This growing interest is fueled by changes taking place in the workplace and in the society at large. Though servant leadership has been written about and studied by several scholars in the past few years, it has not been studied in a systematic manner. Furthermore, although there are a few empirical studies on servant leadership, they failed to prove its construct validity.
The main purpose of this study is to demonstrate that support exists for servant leadership’s construct validity. As discussed below, empirical testing on a list of characteristics of servant leadership delineated form the literature provides the evidence. An ancillary purpose of this research is to outline the main factors that influence the formation of servant leadership and its relationship to team performance.
This study provides support for the construct validity of servant leadership by conducting factor analysis. The results show that servant leadership is composed of seven dimensions. At the same time, this study shows that the main factors for development of servant leadership are personal characteristics and turning point experiences. Furthermore, this study also shows servant leadership has a positive effect on team performance. The theoretical and empirical implications of this study will be discussed and further issues emanating from them will follow.
