Servant Leadership and Its Relationship to Organizational Effectiveness

Slater, Kirk

Servant Leadership and Its Relationship to Organizational Effectiveness

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Sarros (2002) suggested the anecdotal evidence surrounding the theory of servant leadership was plentiful. However, the lack of empirical research has left the theory of servant leadership underdefined (Anderson, 2009; Van Dierendonck, 2011). The researcher sought to address these deficiencies by measuring servant leadership and its correlation with organizational effectiveness. Dr. Kathleen Patterson’s theory of servant leadership (2003) and its 7 virtuous constructs of agape love, altruism, humility, vision, trust, empowerment, and service were instrumental in developing scale items for this quantitative study and defining servant leadership. Organizational effectiveness was defined as Missouri school district’s Annual Performance Reports (APRs). Only those school districts earning APRs falling in the top or bottom 15% of the MSIP were included within the study. Participants were invited to complete a survey instrument that included a version of Dr. Robert Dennis’s Servant Leadership Assessment Instrument (SLAI) and 8 demographic items designed to assist in better understanding those participating. Despite the high internal consistency of SLAI items, the only levels of significance afforded with regard to SLAI scores and APRs were in the areas of a participant’s age and a school districts percentage of free and reduced lunch. Age was a unique demographic in that it depicted a correlation and level of significance with not only the SLAI scores, but also subscales of agape love, trust, and empowerment. Also, the percentage of free and reduced lunch demographic had significance in relation to a district’s earned APRs. Ultimately, the data showed a higher percentage of those students deemed as free and reduced, falling in the bottom 15% of the state’s accountability system than those in the top 15%.

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