Servant leadership and work engagement: Exploring the mediation role of affective commitment and job satisfaction

Udin, U.; Rakasiwi, G.; Dananjoyo, R.

doi:10.22034/IJHCUM.2024.02.02

Document Type : ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Authors

Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Indonesia

https://doi.org/10.22034/IJHCUM.2024.02.02

Abstract

BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: As organizations seek effective ways to lead in a dynamic world, servant leadership will likely remain relevant. Servant leaders focus on serving others and nurturing the growth of employees to create positive work environments. However, there still exists a gap in the literature on the link between servant leadership and work engagement. Thus, this study aims to investigate the relation between servant leadership and work engagement by exploring the mediating role of affective commitment and job satisfaction.
METHODS: Using a purposive sampling process, self-administered questionnaires are distributed to 154 employees working in Central Java – Indonesia public health institution from March to June 2023. Partial least squares-structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) with SmartPLS 3.0 software is utilized to analyze the data.
FINDINGS: The results indicate that servant leadership has a significant direct effect on affective commitment (β = 0.321, t-statistic = 3.226, p < 0.05) and job satisfaction (β = 0.429, t-statistic = 5.556, p < 0.05). Furthermore, it is found that affective commitment (β = 0.527, t-statistic = 8.518, p < 0.05) and job satisfaction (β = 0.306, t-statistic = 4.275, p < 0.05) significantly affect work engagement. This study, upon further investigation, reveals that affective commitment (β = 0.170, t-statistic = 3.079, p < 0.05) and job satisfaction (β = 0.131, t-statistic = 3.179, p < 0.05) significantly mediate the relationship between servant leadership and work engagement.
CONCLUSION: The results from PLS-SEM analysis reveal no direct relationship between servant leadership and work engagement. Additionally, the roles of affective commitment and job satisfaction are found to mediate the relationship between servant leadership and work engagement of employees in public health institution. When employees are satisfied and feel emotionally connected to their leader and organization, they are more likely to find their work meaningful and enjoyable, leading to higher levels of work engagement.

Keywords

Main Subjects

Human capital in urban management

OPEN ACCESS

©2024 The author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit:

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

PUBLISHER NOTE

Tehran Urban Research and Planning Center Publisher remains neutral concerning jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

CITATION METRICS & CAPTURES

CURRENT PUBLISHER

Tehran Urban Research and Planning Center: Tehran Municipality

References

Aboramadan, M.; Dahleez, K.; Hamad, M.H., (2021). Servant leadership and academics outcomes in higher education: the role of job satisfaction. Int. J. Org. Anal., 29(3): 562-584 (23 pages).

Al-Asadi, R.; Muhammed, S.; Abidi, O.; Dzenopoljac, V., (2019). Impact of servant leadership on intrinsic and extrinsic job satisfaction. Leadersh. Org. Dev. J., 40(4): 472-484 (14 pages).

Apornak, A., (2021). Human resources allocation in the hospital emergency department during COVID-19 pandemic. Int. J. Healthcare Manage., 14(1): 264-270 (7 pages).

Astuty, I.; Udin, U., (2020). The Effect of Perceived Organizational Support and Transformational Leadership on Affective Commitment and Employee Performance. J. Asian Fin., Econ. Bus., 7(10): 401-411 (11 pages).

Bai, M.; Zheng, X.; Huang, X.; Jing, T.; Yu, C.; Li, S.; Zhang, Z., (2023). How serving helps leading: mediators between servant leadership and affective commitment. Front. Psychol., 14: 1170490 (9 pages).

Bakker, A.B.; Albrecht, S., (2018). Work engagement: current trends. Career Dev. Int., 23(1): 4-11 (7 pages).

Bakker, A.B.; Demerouti, E., (2008). Towards a model of work engagement. Career Dev. Int., 13(3): 209-223 (15 pages).

Bakker, A.B.; Demerouti, E.; Sanz-Vergel, A.I., (2014). Burnout and Work Engagement: The JD–R Approach. Annu. Rev. Org. Psychol. Org. Behav., 1(1): 389-411 (23 pages).

Bao, Y.; Li, C.; Zhao, H., (2018). Servant leadership and engagement: a dual mediation model. J. Manage. Psychol., 33(6): 406-417 (12 pages).

Batura, N.; Skordis-Worrall, J.; Thapa, R.; Basnyat, R.; Morrison, J., (2016). Is the Job Satisfaction Survey a good tool to measure job satisfaction amongst health workers in Nepal? Results of a validation analysis. BMC Health Serv. Res., 16(1): 308 (13 pages).

Canavesi, A.; Minelli, E., (2022). Servant Leadership and Employee Engagement: A Qualitative Study. Emp. Responsib. Right. J., 34(4): 413-435 (23 pages).

Choudhary, A.I.; Akhtar, S.A.; Zaheer, A., (2013). Impact of Transformational and Servant Leadership on Organizational Performance: A Comparative Analysis. J. Bus. Ethics, 116(2): 433-440 (8 pages).

Christianto, R.D.P., (2021). The Influence of Servant Leadership and Employee Compensation on Employee Engagement Through Employee Job Satisfaction as an Intervening Variable at PT Indonesia Power Suralaya Power Generation Unit. J. Bus. Behav. Entrepreneurship, 5(2): 118-128 (11 pages).

Clarence, M.; Devassy, V.P.; Jena, L.K.; George, T.S., (2021). The effect of servant leadership on ad hoc schoolteachers’ affective commitment and psychological well-being: The mediating role of psychological capital. Int. Rev. Educ., 67(3): 305-331 (27 pages).

De Carlo, N.A.; Dal corso, L.; Falco, A.; Girardi, D.; Piccirelli, A., (2016). “To be, rather than to seem”: The impact of supervisor’s and personal responsibility on work engagement, job performance, and job satisfaction in a positive healthcare organization. Test. Psychometrics, Methodol. Appl. Psychol., 23(4): 561-580 (20 pages).

Demerouti, E.; Bakker, A.B.; Nachreiner, F.; Schaufeli, W.B., (2001). The job demands-resources model of burnout. J. Appl. Psychol., 86(3): 499-512 (14 pages).

Djastuti, I.; Rahardjo, S.T.; Irviana, L.; Udin, U., (2019). Fun at work and employee performance: the roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in manufacturing companies. WSEAS Trans. Bus. Econ., 16: 153-162 (10 pages).

Ehrhart, M.G., (2004). Leadership and procedural justice climate as antecedents of unit‐level organizational citizenship behavior. Personnel Psychol., 57(1): 61-94 (34 pages).

Eva, N.; Robin, M.; Sendjaya, S.; van Dierendonck, D.; Liden, R.C., (2019). Servant Leadership: A systematic review and call for future research. Leadersh. Q., 30(1): 111-132 (22 pages).

Evanschitzky, H.; Iyer, G.R.; Plassmann, H.; Niessing, J.; Meffert, H., (2006). The relative strength of affective commitment in securing loyalty in service relationships. J. Bus. Res., 59(12): 1207-1213 (7 pages).

Farrington, S.M.; Lillah, R., (2019). Servant leadership and job satisfaction within private healthcare practices. Leadersh. Health Serv., 32(1): 148-168 (21 pages).

Fletcher, L., (2016). Training perceptions, engagement, and performance: comparing work engagement and personal role engagement. Hum. Resour. Dev. Int., 19(1): 4-26 (23 pages).

Garg, K.; Dar, I.A.; Mishra, M., (2018). Job Satisfaction and Work Engagement: A Study Using Private Sector Bank Managers. Adv. Dev. Hum. Resour., 20(1): 58-71 (14 pages).

Ghasemy, M.; Frömbling, L., (2022). A conditional time-varying multivariate latent growth curve model for the relationships between academics’ servant leadership behavior, affective commitment, and job performance during the Covid-19 pandemic. Qual. Quant., 1-24 (24 pages).

Gold, A. H.; Malhotra, A.; Segars, A.H., (2001). Knowledge Management: An Organizational Capabilities Perspective. J. Manage. Inf. Syst., 18(1): 185-214 (30 pages).

Greenleaf, R.K., (1970). The servant as leader. Indianapolis: The Robert Greenleaf Center.

Guglielmi, D.; Avanzi, L.; Chiesa, R.; Mariani, M.G.; Bruni, I.; Depolo, M., (2016). Positive aging in demanding workplaces: The gain cycle between job satisfaction and work engagement. Front. Psychol., 7: 1224 (10 pages).

Hair, J.F.; Risher, J.J.; Sarstedt, M.; Ringle, C.M., (2019). When to use and how to report the results of PLS-SEM. Eur. Bus. Rev., 31(1): 2-24 (23 pages).

Hair, J.F.; Sarstedt, M.; Ringle, C.M., (2019). Rethinking some of the rethinking of partial least squares. Eur. J. Mark., 53(4): 566-584 (19 pages).

Hayes, C., (2020). Transition leadership: Navigating the complexities of organisational change: Springer Nature.

Isabel, R.D.; David, M.R.; Gabriel, C.C., (2021). The effect of servant leadership on employee outcomes: does endogeneity matter? Qual. Quant., 1-19 (19 pages).

Jaramillo, F.; Grisaffe, D.B.; Chonko, L.B.; Roberts, J.A., (2009). Examining the impact of servant leadership on sales force performance. J. Pers. Selling Sales Manage., 29(3): 257-275 (19 pages).

Jia-Jun, Z.; Hua-Ming, S., (2022). The impact of career growth on knowledge-based employee engagement: the mediating role of affective commitment and the moderating role of perceived organizational support. Front. Psychol., 13: 805208. (10 pages).

Kobayashi, Y.; Watanabe, K.; Otsuka, Y.; Eguchi, H.; Kawakami, N.; Imamura, K.; van Dierendonck, D., (2020). Servant leadership in Japan: a validation study of the Japanese version of the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS-J). Front. Psychol., 11: 1711 (15 pages).

Karatepe, O.M.; Aboramadan, M.; Dahleez, K.A., (2020). Does climate for creativity mediate the impact of servant leadership on management innovation and innovative behavior in the hotel industry? Int. J. Contemp. Hospitality Manage., 32(8): 2497-2517 (21 pages).

Khan, M.M.; Mubarik, M.S.; Ahmed, S.S.; Islam, T.; Khan, E.; Rehman, A.; Sohail, F., (2021). My meaning is my engagement: exploring the mediating role of meaning between servant leadership and work engagement. Leadersh. Org. Dev. J., 42(6): 926-941 (16 pages).

Kian, T.S.; Yusoff, W.F.W.; Rajah, S., (2014). Job satisfaction and motivation: What are the difference among these two. Eur. J. Bus. Social Sci., 3(2): 94-102 (9 pages).

Kiker, D.S.; Callahan, J.S.; Kiker, M.B., (2019). Exploring the boundaries of servant leadership: A meta-analysis of the main and moderating effects of servant leadership on behavioral and affective outcomes. J. Manage. Issues, 31(2): 172-197 (26 pages).

Kozlowski, S.W.; Watola, D.J.; Jensen, J.M.; Kim, B.H.; Botero, I.C., (2008). Developing adaptive teams: A theory of dynamic team leadership Team effectiveness in complex organizations. Routledge. 147-190 (44 pages).

Ly, B., (2023). Inclusion leadership and employee work engagement: The role of organizational commitment in Cambodian public organization. Asia Pac. Manage. Rev. (9 pages).

Maryati, T.; Astuti, R.J.; Udin, U., (2019). The effect of spiritual leadership and organizational culture on employee performance: The mediating role of job satisfaction. Int. J. Innov. Creat. Change, 9(3): 130-143 (14 pages).

Mercurio, Z.A., (2015). Affective Commitment as a Core Essence of Organizational Commitment: An Integrative Literature Review. Hum. Resour. Dev. Rev., 14(4): 389-414 (26 pages).

Meyer, J.P.; Allen, N.J., (1991). A three-component conceptualization of organizational commitment. Hum. Resour. Manage. Rev., 1(1): 61-89 (29 pages).

Mousavi, S.F.; Apornak, A.; Pourhassan, M.R.; Raissi, S., (2021). Key performance indicators of HSE in the hospital management system during corona virus pandemic. J. Ind. Syst. Eng., 14(1): 279-291 (13 pages).

Nemțeanu, M.S.; Dinu, V.; Pop, R.A.; Dabija, D.C., (2022). Predicting job satisfaction and work engagement behavior in the COVID-19 pandemic: a conservation of resources theory approach. E&M Econ. Manage., 25(2): 23-40 (18 pages).

Ng, K.Y.N., (2022). Effects of servant leadership, affective commitment, and trust on knowledge sharing tendency in the financial industry. Knowledge Manage. Res. Pract.: 1-19 (19 pages).

Ozturk, A.; Karatepe, O.M.; Okumus, F., (2021). The effect of servant leadership on hotel employees’ behavioral consequences: Work engagement versus job satisfaction. Int. J. Hospitality Manage., 97: 102994 (11 pages).

Park, K.A.; Johnson, K.R., (2019). Job Satisfaction, Work Engagement, and Turnover Intention of CTE Health Science Teachers. Int. J. Res. Vocational Educ. Training, 6(3): 224-242 (19 pages).

Rabiul, M.K.; Shamsudin, F.M.; Yean, T.F.; Patwary, A.K., (2023). Linking leadership styles to communication competency and work engagement: evidence from the hotel industry. J. Hosp. Tourism Insights, 6(2): 425-446 (22 pages).

Rahal, F.E.Z.M.; Farmanesh, P., (2022). Does Servant Leadership Stimulate Work Engagement in the Workplace? The mediating role of trust in leader. Sustainability, 14(24): 16528 (14 pages).

Sarstedt, M.; Ringle, C.M.; Smith, D.; Reams, R.; Hair, J.F., (2014). Partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM): A useful tool for family business researchers. J. Fam. Bus. Strategy, 5(1): 105-115 (11 pages).

Schaufeli, W.B.; Bakker, A.B., (2010). Defining and measuring work engagement: Bringing clarity to the concept. In A. B. Bakker (Ed.) & M. P. Leiter, Work engagement: A handbook of essential theory and research. Psychology Press. 10-24 (5 pages).

Schaufeli, W.B.; Taris, T.W.; Van Rhenen, W., (2008). Workaholism, burnout, and work engagement: three of a kind or three different kinds of employee well-being? Appl. Psychol., 57(2): 173-203 (31 pages).

Semedo, A.S.D.; Coelho, A.F.M.; Ribeiro, N.M.P., (2016). Effects of authentic leadership, affective commitment and job resourcefulness on employees’ creativity and individual performance. Leadersh. Org. Dev. J., 37(8): 1038-1055 (17 pages).

Shim, D.C.; Park, H.H.; Keum, J.; Kim, S., (2021). Street-level bureaucrats’ work engagement: can public managers’ servant-leader orientation make a difference? Public Personnel Manage., 50(3): 307-326 (20 pages).

Singh, A., (2022). Work engagement, affective commitment, and career satisfaction: the mediating role of knowledge sharing in context of SIEs. Benchmarking: Int. J., 29(10): 3302-3332 (31 pages).

Sims, C.M.; Carter, A.D.; Sparkman, T.E.; Morris, L.R.; Durojaiye, A., (2021). On black male leadership: a study of leadership efficacy, servant leadership, and engagement mediated by microaggressions. Adv. Dev. Hum. Resour., 23(4): 354-383 (30 pages).

Srimulyani, V.A., (2021). Increasing Work Engagement Through Servant Leadership and Organizational Justice. J. Ilm. Adm., Manaje. Kepem. Pend., 3(2): 97-114 (18 pages).

Torlak, N.G.; Kuzey, C., (2019). Leadership, job satisfaction and performance links in private education institutes of Pakistan. Int. J. Prod. Perform. Manage., 68(2): 276-295 (20 pages).

Udin, U., (2023a). Leadership styles and their associated outcomes: A bibliometric review using VOS viewer. Int. J. Hum. Capital in Urban Manage., 8(4): 443-456 (14 pages).

Udin, U., (2023b). Transformational leadership, knowledge-based work passion and organizational citizenship behavior: A survey dataset from public university. Int. J. Hum. Capital in Urban Manage., 8(3): 391-402 (12 pages).

Udin, U.; Dananjoyo, R.; Isalman, I., (2022). The Effect of Transactional Leadership on Innovative Work Behavior: Testing the Role of Knowledge Sharing and Work Engagement as Mediation Variables. Int. J. Sustain. Dev. Plann., 17(3): 727-736 (10 pages).

Udin, U.; Dananjoyo, R.; Shaikh, M.; Vio Linarta, D., (2022). Islamic Work Ethics, Affective Commitment, and Employee’s Performance in Family Business: Testing Their Relationships. SAGE Open, 12(1): 21582440221085263 (12 pages).

Vallina, A.S.; Guerrero, R.F., (2018). The human side of leadership: exploring the relationship between servant leadership, organisational facilitators and happiness at work. Int. J. Environ. Health, 9(2): 131-150 (20 pages).

Vandenberghe, C.; Bentein, K.; Stinglhamber, F., (2004). Affective commitment to the organization, supervisor, and work group: Antecedents and outcomes. J. Vocational Behav., 64(1): 47-71 (25 pages).

Velthuis, F.; Varpio, L.; Helmich, E.; Dekker, H.; Jaarsma, A.D.C., (2018). Navigating the Complexities of Undergraduate Medical Curriculum Change: Change Leaders’ Perspectives. Acad. Med., 93(10): 1503-1510 (8 pages).

Wirawan, H.; Jufri, M.; Saman, A., (2020). The effect of authentic leadership and psychological capital on work engagement: the mediating role of job satisfaction. Leadersh. Org. Dev. J., 41(8): 1139-1154 (16 pages).

Yandi, A.; Havidz, H.B.H., (2022). Employee performance model: Work engagement through job satisfaction and organizational commitment (A study of human resource management literature study). Dinasti Int. J. Manage. Sci., 3(3): 547-565 (19 pages).

Yu, J.; Ariza-Montes, A.; Hernández-Perlines, F.; Vega-Muñoz, A.; Han, H., (2020). Hotels’ Eco-Friendly Physical Environment as Nature-Based Solutions for Decreasing Burnout and Increasing Job Satisfaction and Performance. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health, 17(17): 6357 (17 pages).

Zang, L.; Feng, Y., (2023). Relationship between job satisfaction and work engagement in Chinese kindergarten teachers: Vocational delay of gratification as a mediator. Front. Psychol., 14: 1114519 (10 pages).

Zargar, P.; Sousan, A.; Farmanesh, P., (2019). Does trust in leader mediate the servant leadership style–job satisfaction relationship? Manage. Sci. Lett., 9(13): 2253-2268 (16 pages).

Zeeshan, S.; Ng, S.I.; Ho, J.A.; Jantan, A.H., (2021). Assessing the impact of servant leadership on employee engagement through the mediating role of self-efficacy in the Pakistani banking sector. Cogent Bus. Manage., 8(1): 1963029 (19 pages).

Zhou, G.; Gul, R.; Tufail, M., (2022). Does servant leadership stimulate work engagement? The moderating role of trust in the leader. Front. Psychol., 13: 925732 (9 pages).

Zhu, Y., (2013). A review of job satisfaction. Asian Social Sci., 9(1): 293-298 (6 pages).

LETTERS TO EDITOR

International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management (IJHCUM) welcomes letters to the editor for the post-publication discussions and corrections which allows debate post publication on its site, through the Letters to Editor. Letters pertaining to manuscript published in IJHCUM should be sent to the editorial office of IJHCUM within three months of either online publication or before printed publication, except for critiques of original research. Following points are to be considering before sending the letters (comments) to the editor.

[1] Letters that include statements of statistics, facts, research, or theories should include appropriate references, although more than three are discouraged.

[2] Letters that are personal attacks on an author rather than thoughtful criticism of the author’s ideas will not be considered for publication.

[3] Letters can be no more than 300 words in length.

[4] Letter writers should include a statement at the beginning of the letter stating that it is being submitted either for publication or not.

[5] Anonymous letters will not be considered.

[6] Letter writers must include their city and state of residence or work.

[7] Letters will be edited for clarity and length.

Name *

Email Address *

Affiliation *

Comments *

Security Code *

International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management

Servant leadership and work engagement: Exploring the mediation role of affective commitment and job satisfaction

References

References

Send comment about this article

Volume 9, Issue 2 - Serial Number 34
April 2024
Pages 205-216

Servant leadership and work engagement: Exploring the mediation role of affective commitment and job satisfaction

References

References

Send comment about this article

Volume 9, Issue 2 - Serial Number 34April 2024Pages 205-216

Volume 9, Issue 2 - Serial Number 34
April 2024
Pages 205-216