The Influence of Servant Leadership on Employee Trust in a Leader and Commitment to the Organization

Abstract

Servant leadership is a concept that has garnered attention from researchers in the past decade. Servant leadership requires leaders to rely on one-on-one communication in order to understand the abilities, needs, desires, goals, and potential of their followers and ultimately bring the best out of those individuals. It is noted from the extant literature that, with the knowledge of each follower’s unique characteristics and interests, leaders can assist their followers in achieving their potential. This study investigates the mediating role of employee trust in the leader on the relationships between servant leadership and employee commitment to the organization. Three research hypotheses are posited and empirically tested using a sample data of 150 from certain sectors in South Africa’s Gauteng Province. The results indicate that servant leadership positively influences employee trust in the leader and employee commitment to the organization in a significant way. Servant leadership implications of the findings are discussed and limitations and future research directions are indicated.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2013.v4n14p405