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A New Scale to Measure Executive Servant Leadership: Development, Analysis, and Implications for Research

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An Erratum to this article was published on 10 March 2011

Abstract

This article introduces a new scale to measure executive servant leadership, situating the need for this scale within the context of ethical leadership and its impacts on followers, organizations and the greater society. The literature on servant leadership is reviewed and servant leadership is compared to other concepts that share dimensions of ethical leadership (e.g., transformational, authentic, and spiritual leadership). Next, the Executive Servant Leadership Scale (ESLS) is introduced, and its contributions and limitations discussed. We conclude with an agenda for future research, describing ways the measure can be used to test hypotheses about organizational moral climate, ethical organizational culture, corporate responsibility, and institutional theory.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Eckerd College, St. Petersburg, FL, U.S.A.

    Lora L. Reed

  2. Florida International University, Miami, FL, U.S.A.

    Deborah Vidaver-Cohen

  3. College of Management and Economics, University of Guelph, Guelph, ON, Canada

    Scott R. Colwell

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  1. Lora L. Reed
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  2. Deborah Vidaver-Cohen
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  3. Scott R. Colwell
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Correspondence to Lora L. Reed.

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An erratum to this article can be found at http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10551-011-0813-1

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Reed, L.L., Vidaver-Cohen, D. & Colwell, S.R. A New Scale to Measure Executive Servant Leadership: Development, Analysis, and Implications for Research. J Bus Ethics 101, 415–434 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-010-0729-1

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