How Can Managers Promote Employee Sustainability? A Study on the Impact of Servant Leadership on Emotional Labor

Ge Yan, Liang Meng, Bo Li and Jiamin Li ()
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Ge Yan: School of Accounting and Finance, Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Hongkong 999077, China
Liang Meng: School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110167, China
Bo Li: School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110167, China
Jiamin Li: School of Business Administration, Northeastern University, Shenyang 110167, China

Sustainability, 2023, vol. 15, issue 14, 1-19

Abstract: How managers can promote sustainability among their employees has become an important research issue in the field of organizations. Based on the theory of person–environment fit and social learning, the internal mechanism and the conditions of servant leadership on the two dimensions of emotional labor of the epidemic situation were studied through the analysis of the questionnaire data at two time points. The study revealed that the adoption of servant leadership by managers can have a positive impact on employee well-being and deep acting in the context of COVID-19, and this is critically important for the sustainable development of employees. Employee well-being is positively correlated with deep acting and negatively correlated with surface acting. Employee well-being plays a mediating role between servant leadership and the two dimensions of emotional labor. Perceived organizational support plays a moderating role between servant leadership and surface acting. The research findings can serve as a reference for enterprises to take measures in mitigating the adverse impact of COVID-19. Moreover, they provide new insights for managers to facilitate the sustainable development of their employees.

Keywords: COVID-19; servant leadership; emotional labor; employee well-being; perceived organizational support (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: O13 Q Q0 Q2 Q3 Q5 Q56 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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