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Integrating Servant Leadership into Managerial Strategy to Build Group Social Capital: The Mediating Role of Group Citizenship Behavior

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Abstract

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.

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Notes

  1. Here, ∆χ2 and ∆df indicate the increased value for the respective Chi-square statistic and degrees of freedom that stem from each specific pair-wise comparison.

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Funding

This work was funded by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness and FEDER funds (Project ECO2016-75781-P). Plan Estatal de Investigación Científica y Técnica y de Innovación 2016–2020.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Avenida de los Alfares, 42, 16071, Cuenca, Spain

    Jorge Linuesa-Langreo, Pablo Ruiz-Palomino & Dioni Elche-Hortelano

Authors
  1. Jorge Linuesa-Langreo
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  2. Pablo Ruiz-Palomino
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  3. Dioni Elche-Hortelano
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Jorge Linuesa-Langreo.

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Conflict of interest

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical Approval

All procedures performed in this study were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

Informed Consent

Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in this study.

Additional information

Ethical Challenges in Strategic Management: The 19th IESE International Symposium on Ethics, Business and Society.

Appendix: Measures

Appendix: Measures

Servant Leadership (Winston and Fields 2015)

My supervisor…

  • SL1. Practices what he/she preaches

  • SL2. Serves people without regard to their nationality, gender, or race

  • SL3. Sees serving as a mission of responsibility to others

  • SL4. Genuinely interested in employees as people

  • SL5. Understands that serving others is most important

  • SL6. Willing to make sacrifices to help others

  • SL7. Seeks to instill trust rather than fear or insecurity

  • SL8. Is always honest

  • SL9. Is driven by a sense of higher calling

  • SL10. Promotes values that transcend self-interest and material success

Group Social Capital (Pastoriza and Ariño 2013)

Structural Dimension

  • SGSC1. In my work group, employees engage in open and honest communication with one another

  • SGSC2. In my work group, employees share and accept constructive criticisms without making it personal

  • SGSC3. In my work group, employees willingly share information with one another

  • SGSC4. Employees at this work group keep each other informed at all times

Relational Dimension

  • RGSC1. I can rely on the employees I work with in this work group

  • RGSC2. Employees in this work group are usually considerate of one another’s feelings

  • RGSC3. Employees have confidence in one another in this work group

  • RGSC4. Employees in this work group show a great deal of integrity

  • RGSC5. There is no “team spirit” among employees in this work group

  • RGSC6. Overall, employees at this work group are trustworthy

Cognitive Dimension

  • CGSC1. In my work group, people share the same ambitions and vision for the work group

  • CGSC2. In my work group, employees enthusiastically pursue collective goals and mission

  • CGSC3. There is a commonality of purpose among employees at this work group

  • CGSC4. Employees at this work group are committed to the goals of the work group

  • CGSC5. Employees view themselves as partners in charting the work group direction

  • CGSC6. Everyone is in total agreement on our work group’s vision

Group Citizenship Behavior (Lee and Allen 2002)

In my work group…

GCBI Dimension

  • GCBI1. Employees help others who have been absent

  • GCBI2. Employees willingly give their time to help others who have work-related problems

  • GCBI3. Employees adjust their work schedule to accommodate other employees’ requests for time off

  • GCBI4. Employees go out of the way to make newer employees feel welcome in the work group

  • GCBI5. Employees show genuine concern and courtesy toward coworkers, even under the most trying business or personal situations

  • GCBI6. Employees give up time to help others who have work or non-work problems

  • GCBI7. Employees at this work group assist others with their duties

  • GCBI8. Employees at this work group share personal property with others to help their work

GCBO Dimension

  • GCBO1. Employees attend functions that are not required but that help the work group image

  • GCBO2. Employees keep up with developments in the work group

  • GCBO3. Employees defend the work group when other employees criticize it.

  • GCBO4. Employees show pride when representing the work group in public

  • GCBO5. Employees offer ideas to improve the functioning of the work group

  • GCBO6. Employees express loyalty toward the work group

  • GCBO7. Employees take action to protect the work group from potential problems

  • GCBO8. Employees demonstrate concern about the image of the work group

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Linuesa-Langreo, J., Ruiz-Palomino, P. & Elche-Hortelano, D. Integrating Servant Leadership into Managerial Strategy to Build Group Social Capital: The Mediating Role of Group Citizenship Behavior. J Bus Ethics 152, 899–916 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3823-4

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-018-3823-4

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