Servant Leadership and Goal Attainment Through Meaningful Life and Vitality: A Diary Study

Raquel Rodríguez-Carvajal (), Marta Herrero (), Dirk van Dierendonck (), Sara de Rivas () and Bernardo Moreno-Jiménez ()
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Raquel Rodríguez-Carvajal: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Marta Herrero: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Dirk van Dierendonck: Erasmus University
Sara de Rivas: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid
Bernardo Moreno-Jiménez: Universidad Autónoma de Madrid

Journal of Happiness Studies, 2019, vol. 20, issue 2, No 9, 499-521

Abstract: Abstract Despite the emphasis of servant leadership theory on the attention provided to workers’ needs and goals, there is a lack of empirical knowledge on the relationship between servant leadership and employees’ goal attainment. We provide a theoretical model of the mechanism by which this strong focus of servant leadership on a worker’s individual development positively influences the worker’s goal attainment. Through a diary study with 126 workers over five consecutive working days, the results indicated a positive within-person indirect effect of servant leader behaviors on goal attainment a day later through two parallel paths: the meaning in life at night and vitality the next morning. These results provide the first empirical support for the assumption of servant leadership as a promoter of employees’ goals, and highlights how servant leadership positively influences the integration of work as part of life and the energy resources of workers to achieve their daily goals.

Keywords: Servant leadership; Goal attainment; Meaning in life; Vitality; Proactive personality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (5)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10902-017-9954-y

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