Servant leadership, ideology-based culture and job outcomes: A multi-level investigation among hospitality workers

• Published in: International journal of hospitality management Vol. 109; p. 103408
• Main Authors: Fatima, Seerat, Abbas, Muhammad, Hassan, Muhammad Mubbashar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Elsevier Ltd 01.02.2023
• Subjects: Community-citizenship behavior; Diversity-valuing behavior; Ideology-based culture; Meaningfulness; Servant leadership; Diversity-valuing behavior; Servant leadership; Meaningfulness; Ideology-based culture; Community-citizenship behavior
• ISSN: 0278-4319; 1873-4693
• DOI: 10.1016/j.ijhm.2022.103408

Although previous research has linked leadership, culture and work behaviors, scholars and practitioners lack an understanding of how servant leadership affects employees’ work meaningfulness, diversity-valuing behavior and community citizenship behavior by fostering an ideology-based culture within the hospitality sector. This study addressed these gaps by conducting a multi-level time-lagged field study among full-time employees and their supervisors (310 employees nested in 70 supervisors) working in a large hotel chain in Pakistan. The study examined the direct and indirect effects of supervisory-level servant leadership on individual-level meaningfulness, individual-level community citizenship behavior, and group-level diversity-valuing behavior through group-level ideology-based culture. The findings revealed that supervisors’ servant leadership style was positively related to ideology-based culture within each group. In addition, ideology-based culture was positively related to group’s diversity-valuing behavior as well as each member’s meaningfulness and community citizenship behavior. Finally, servant leadership had a positive indirect effect on all outcomes through ideology-based culture. •The study used a multi-level time-lagged field data collected from employees of a large hotel chain in Pakistan.•The study examined the effects of supervisory-level servant leadership on individual and group-level outcomes.•Servant leadership was positively related to ideology-based culture.•Ideology-based culture was positively related to meaningfulness, community citizenship and diversity-valuing behavior.•Servant leadership had a positive indirect effect on all outcomes through ideology-based culture.