Purpose Statement Checklist

Evaluate the purpose statement.

The Purpose Statement Checklist serves as a guide for your evaluation. Please do not respond to the checklist in a Yes/No format in writing your Discussion post.

Analyze alignment among the theory, research problem, and purpose.
Explain your position on the relationship between research and social change

Use the following criteria to evaluate an author’s purpose statement. Look for indications of the following: • Does the statement begin with signaling words? • Does the statement identify the research approach (quantitative, qualitative, or mixed)? • Does the statement clearly state the intent of the study? • Does the statement mention the participants? • Does the statement mention the research site? • Is the statement framed in a way that is consistent with the identified problem? If the study is qualitative, does the purpose statement do as follows? • Focus on a single phenomenon • Use an action verb to convey how learning will take place • Use neutral, nondirectional language • Provide a general definition of the central phenomenon If the study is quantitative, does the purpose statement do as follows? • Identify the variables under study • Provide a general definition of each key variable • Use words that connect the variables • Identify a theory If the study is mixed methods, does the purpose statement do as follows? • Discuss the reason(s) for mixing both quantitative and qualitative data • Include the char
Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies 2016, Vol. 23(3) 260 –271 © The Authors 2015 Reprints and permissions: sagepub.com/journalsPermissions.nav DOI: 10.1177/1548051815621257 jlo.sagepub.com

Article

In today’s service-oriented organizations, organizational performance is often a function of high-quality customer service, which in turn is a function of the talent and engage- ment level of employees (Raymundo, 2014). A recent Gallup (2015) study concludes, however, that only about a third of U.S. workers are engaged in their work, and this number is significantly less at the global level. In a globally competitive business environment, this does not bode well for organizations that increasingly rely on employees as the initial point of contact in a customer-centric environment. Employees report several factors that can influence their work engagement, including the need for organizational leaders to communicate more openly and consistently with them, help employees understand tasks and set goals, and emphasize employee strengths (Gallup, 2015). In other words, organizational leaders need to show employees they care. Showing employees they care implies that organiza- tional leaders must adopt a leadership approach that places the support and treatment of employees at the center of its philosophy.

Over four decades ago, Greenleaf (1977) introduced just such an approach—servant leadership. While other leader- ship approaches have some focus on people, servant leader- ship is unique in that it places primary emphasis on the relationship between leader and follower. The core premise of servant leadership is that leaders give priority to the well- being of followers over the servant leader’s self-interest in

an effort to increase individual and organizational perfor- mance. As Sendjaya and Sarros (2002) noted, the concept of “servant as leader” appears, at first glance, to be an oxymo- ron, yet the primary motivation of a servant leader is to serve followers (van Dierendonck, 2011) in ways that will help followers become effective contributors to the organization.

Although increasing research attention has been directed toward the concept of servant leadership in recent years, a number of gaps within servant leadership theory remain unaddressed. Among these is the observation that very little is known about the antecedents or leader traits associated with servant leadership (Liden, Panaccio, Meuser, Hu, & Wayne, 2014; van Dierendonck, 2011; Washington, Sutton, & Feild, 2006). It is important to close this gap because some traits influence an individual’s motivation to lead and serve and affect the quality of the relationship between leader and follower (van Dierendonck, 2011). A lack of understanding about traits of a servant leader also limits

621257 JLOXXX10.1177/1548051815621257Journal of Leadership & Organizational StudiesFlynn et al. research-article2015

1University of North Florida, Jacksonville, FL, USA 2La Salle University, Philadelphia, PA, USA 3Auburn University, Auburn, AL, USA

Corresponding Author: C. Brian Flynn, Department of Management, Coggin School of Business, University of North Florida, 1 UNF Drive, Jacksonville, FL 32224, USA. Email: brian.flynn@unf.edu

Exploring the Relationship Between Leaders’ Core Self-Evaluations and Subordinates’ Perceptions of Servant Leadership: A Field Study

C. Brian Flynn1, James W. Smither2, and Alan G. Walker3

Abstract Recent developments in servant leadership theory exposed a gap in the research literature regarding traits that are important to servant leaders. Our study partially addresses this gap by examining the trait of core self-evaluations and its relationship to servant leadership and leader effectiveness. The results of our study indicate that leader’s core self-evaluations are positively related to followers’ perceptions of servant leadership and leader effectiveness, and the relationship between leaders’ core self-evaluations and leader effectiveness is fully mediated by servant leadership. The results add support to current servant leadership theory by confirming the role that core self-evaluations play in servant leader emergence, and extend the research on core self-evaluations as it relates to leader performance.

Keywords core self-evaluations, leader traits, servant leadership

mailto:brian.flynn@unf.edu
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Flynn et al. 261

organizational leaders’ ability to select individuals with a propensity to engage in servant leader behaviors. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to partially address this gap by conducting an empirical investigation about the relationship between leaders’ core self-evaluations and followers’ per- ceptions of servant leadership and leader effectiveness. This study contributes to the servant leadership literature and the development of servant leadership theory by providing evi- dence that a leader’s core self-evaluations play an important role in shaping effective servant leadership.

Servant Leadership

At the core of servant leadership theory is the need to serve the follower in such a way as to focus on the follower’s well-being. Leaders demonstrate servant leadership by exhibiting a number of servant-oriented behaviors across several dimensions. These dimensions include (a) being a servant (e.g., giving priority to others’ interests rather than one’s own, giving credit to others); (b) empowering others (e.g., helping others grow and succeed, holding followers accountable for performance they can control); (c) making a difference (e.g., helping the organization make a contribu- tion to the community and society, making a difference in others’ lives, altruism); (d) behaving morally/ethically; (e) exhibiting positive personal qualities, such as humility, integrity, egalitarianism, authenticity, and courage; (f) building relationships through listening, demonstrating empathy, and collaborating; and (g) demonstrating concep- tual skills (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006; Dennis & Bocarnea, 2005; Liden, Wayne, Zhao, & Henderson, 2008; Reed, Vidaver-Cohen, & Colwell, 2011; Russell & Stone, 2002; Sendjaya, Sarros, & Santora, 2008; Spears, 1995; van Dierendonck & Nuijten, 2011).

The application of these behaviors results in a number of positive organizational benefits. For example, Liden, Wayne, Liao, and Meuser (2014) reported that servant lead- ership behaviors exert their effect by creating a serving cul- ture (where all members of the work unit engage in servant leadership behaviors), which is in turn related to individual job performance, organizational performance, and lower turnover. Owens and Hekman (2012) found that servant leaders can exert their effect by way of their humility—in essence, modeling to followers how to grow and view their uncertainty about their own development as legitimate.

Other studies have identified the relationship between servant leadership and valued individual and organizational outcomes, including followers’ helping and creative behav- iors, organizational citizenship behaviors, organizational learning, followers’ self-efficacy, engagement with work, job satisfaction, service climate, trust in the leader and orga- nization, and organizational commitment (Barbuto & Wheeler, 2006; Choudhary, Akhtar, & Zaheer, 2013; Hunter et al., 2013; Joseph & Winston, 2005; Liden et al., 2008;

Neubert, Kacmar, Carlson, Chonk, & Roberts, 2008; Parris & Peachey, 2013; van Dierendonck & Nuijten, 2011; Walumbwa, Hartnell, & Oke, 2010). Many, if not all, of these outcomes are important to employee well-being and organizational performance, both of which are key desired outcomes of servant leadership.

Core Self-Evaluations and Leadership

Core self-evaluations represent a latent, higher order con- struct that contains four well-known personality traits: self- esteem, generalized self-efficacy, (low) neuroticism, and (internal) locus of control. Core self-evaluations refer to a basic evaluation of one’s worthiness, effectiveness, and capability as a person (Judge, Erez, Bono, & Thoresen, 2003). Judge and colleagues noted that the construct of core self-evaluations is a better predictor of outcomes than any of the four traits it subsumes (Erez & Judge, 2001; Judge, 2009; Judge, Erez, & Bono, 1998; Judge et al., 2003). Core self-evaluations are linked to many important work out- comes, such as job satisfaction (Judge, Heller, & Klinger, 2008), job performance (Kacmar, Collins,…