Abstract
Organizations operate in dynamic environments, which not only requires organizations to adjust, but also for employees to adapt quickly to align with new or adjusted organizational goals. Servant leadership has been shown to help employees develop and grow and behave in a moral and fair manner which are important elements for successful change. We aim to provide a further understanding of the associations between servant leadership and organizational outcomes during changing times. Drawing on the theories of social exchange and goal-setting, and the norm of reciprocity, we propose the mediating role of organizational goal clarity in the associations between servant leadership and five organizational outcomes. The hypotheses are tested in four studies: a two-wave time-lagged survey study conducted in a service company going through a merger, and three experimental studies. The results show that servant leadership relates positively to goal clarity and negatively to uncertainty of employees during organizational change. Furthermore, organizational goal clarity positively mediates the associations between servant leadership and employees’ organizational change commitment and service performance (e.g., organizational citizenship behavior, customer service and customer orientation). This investigation provides a theoretical and empirical validation of a mechanism through which servant leaders enhance organizational performance during changing times.
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Notes
Including control variables (age, sex, educational level, work regiment (fulltime or part-time), duration participants have worked with their current supervisor, tenure in their current function, and tenure in the organization) and team variables (teams size and leader sex) did not affect the results. The initial results remained, χ2 = 1246.27; df = 709; CFI = .90; TLI = .88; RMSEA = .05; SRMR = .06, with significant indirect effects of servant leadership, through goal clarity, on change commitment (β = .18, 95% CI [.061, .153]), OCBI (β = .07, 95% CI [.016, .068]), OCBO (β = .16, 95% CI [.040, .114]), customer service (β = .09, 95% CI [.023, .114]), and customer orientation (β = .07, 95% CI [.008, .085]).
As an alternative mechanism we tested overall justice (Ambrose & Schminke, 2009) as an additional parallel mediator in our model, but it did not affect the results. The initial results remained, χ2 = 1105.79; df = 602; CFI = .90; TLI = .89; RMSEA = .06; SRMR = .07, with significant indirect effects of servant leadership, through goal clarity, on change commitment (β = .19, 95% CI [.060, .155]), OCBI (β = .06, 95% CI [.007, .065]), OCBO (β = .15, 95% CI [.034, .106]), customer service (β = .09, 95% CI [.027, .119]), and customer orientation (β = .07, 95% CI [.007, .085]). The theoretical reasoning is based on social exchange theory (Blau, 1964; Cropanzano & Mitchell, 2005), which indicates that social exchanges are normative and contain important fairness information (Cropanzano et al., 2017). Servant leaders ensure that their employees are being treated fairly and ethically, which prompts their employees to perceive that their treatment is just, motivating them to reciprocate with committing to the change, OCB, and enhanced service performance (customer orientation and customer service).
Thanks to an anonymous reviewer for noting this.
Additionally, we tested for another alternative model in which customer orientation acted as a second parallel mediator next to goal clarity. The model had a sufficient, yet slightly worse fit to the data (χ2 = 948.600, df = 507, CFI = .91, TLI = .90, RMSEA = .06, SRMR = .07) than the original (χ2 = 938.43; df = 506; CFI = .91; TLI = .90; RMSEA = .06; SRMR = .06), and the indirect paths from servant leadership, through goal clarity, to change commitment (β = .17, 95% CI [.054, .144]), OCBO (β = .14, 95% CI [.034, .102]), and customer service (β = .04, 95% CI [.004, .059]) remained significant, while only the path from servant leadership through goal clarity on OCBI (β = .03, 95% CI [− .003, .040]) was not, whereas the indirect paths from servant leadership, through customer orientation, to change commitment (β = .02, 95% CI [− .017, .039]), OCBI (β = .04, 95% CI [− .032, .077]), OCBO (β = .02, 95% CI [− .016, .037]), and customer service (β = .05, 95% CI [− .060, .140]) appeared all to be not significant.
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Appendix
Appendix
Experimental Manipulation and Scenarios Study 2 and 3
All scenarios start with the following text:
“You have been working for some time in the service-oriented organization CLpro where you are in daily contact with customers to offer them products and to assist them if there are specific questions. CLpro takes service very seriously. It was recently announced that CLpro will undergo a major organizational change. It is going to merge with two other organizations.”
Study 2 and Study 3: High Servant Leadership
Your supervisor René is always focused on supporting you, your colleagues, the organization, and the community. René gives you freedom to choose and shape your own work, and considers it his calling to serve both the organization and his employees, and to ensure that you have room to grow and succeed in your work and career. He considers your and your colleagues' interests to be more important than his own, and also considers it very important that you are treated correctly and fairly (ethically). He will therefore do everything in his power to ensure that you can do your job as well as possible. René knows the details of your tasks, and is well aware of what you need to support you in your work. He pays close attention to his relationship with you and the other employees in order to assess whether his employees have certain needs. He is dedicated to meeting those needs, and feels it is important to know if something is going wrong and if so, where he can help.
Study 2 and Study 3: Low Servant Leadership
Your supervisor René is not at all focused on supporting you, your colleagues, the organization, or the community. René does not give you the freedom to shape your own work or make your own choices, and considers it his vocation to serve mainly himself, and to ensure that he has room to grow and succeed in his work and career. He regards your and your colleagues' interests as far less important than his own, and finds it irrelevant whether you should be treated correctly and fairly (ethically). He therefore does everything he can to ensure that mainly he can do his job as well as possible. René does not actually know you, and is completely unaware of what you need to support you in your work. He pays no attention to his relationships with you and the other employees, and has no interest in the needs of you or his other employees. He does not care about those needs, and finds it unimportant to know if something would go wrong nor that he would be inclined to help.
Study 3: High Uncertainty
Beyond the news surrounding the CLpro merger, you have little knowledge of what the merger means for you and the organization. You are uncertain what this merger will mean for your job or how it will affect your department. You are also questioning how drastically your department will change in terms of tasks, way of working, or composition. You are somewhat uncomfortable with this change and how you will be able to cope with the merger and its consequences. You and your colleagues are hearing different stories regarding what the major organizational change is all about, but you don't seem to be able to predict what the change is going to do to your department.
Study 3: Low Uncertainty
In addition to the news surrounding the CLpro merger, you have a great deal of knowledge about what the merger means for you and the organization. It is clear what this merger will mean for your position and how it will affect your department. You have no questions about how drastically your department will change in terms of duties, way of working, or composition, as this is very clear to you. You are comfortable with this change and the way you will be able to deal with the merger and its consequences. You and your colleagues hear different stories regarding what the major organizational change will bring, and what the change will do to your department seems to be quite predictable to you.
Study 3: High Goal Clarity
What the merger means for the goals and future of the organization has been clearly and consistently communicated to everyone. It is clear to you and your colleagues that the organization has merged with other service-oriented organizations and that your duties remain similarly focused on serving customers. Both you and your colleagues understand why CLpro chose to merge, with what ambition this was started, and what the focus of the new, merged organization is. Both the short- and long-term goals, and the direction the organization is taking, are clear to you and your colleagues.
Study 3: Low Goal Clarity
What the merger means for the goals and future of the organization has not been communicated. It is unclear to you and your colleagues why the organization merged with other organizations, what kind of organizations these are, and whether your tasks will remain similarly focused on serving the customers. Neither you nor your colleagues understand why CLpro chose to merge, with what ambition this was started, and what the focus of the new, merged organization is. Both the short- and long-term goals, and the direction of the organization, are completely unclear to you and your colleagues.
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Heine, E.C.E., Stouten, J. & Liden, R.C. Providing Service During a Merger: The Role of Organizational Goal Clarity and Servant Leadership. J Bus Ethics 184, 627–647 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05162-6
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-022-05162-6