Servant leadership and followership creativity: The influence of workplace spirituality and political skill
Abstract
Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine how servant leadership and political skill combine to impact workplace spirituality and employee creativity. Design/methodology/approach: Participants were working adults recruited by graduate and undergraduate students from a US public regional comprehensive university. Data were collected across three time periods, with a final sample size of 280 participants. Findings: The authors’ findings suggest that servant leaders impact employee creativity by fostering an environment that promotes workplace spirituality. Furthermore, this relationship is strengthened to the extent that the servant leader possesses high levels of political skill. Research limitations/implications: This study provides a foundation for the interplay between servant leadership and political skill. Therefore, the data collection procedures undertaken in this study (i.e. from sources in multiple organizations) are beneficial. A limitation to this study is the use of a single informant to measure all of the constructs, which may cause a bias in the results. Practical implications: This study provides a foundation for the interplay between servant leadership and political skill. Therefore, the data collection procedures undertaken in this study (i.e. from sources in multiple organizations) are beneficial. Originality/value: Although servant leadership research continues to receive increased attention in the extant literature, researchers have tended to focus on the relational aspects of servant leadership. Curiously, the “leader” side of servant leadership has been largely neglected. As a result, some have questioned the construct as a viable leadership model. Greenleaf (1977), however, noted that servant leaders also possess conceptual skills; yet, these skills are rarely included in servant leadership measurements or empirical studies. The authors argue that political skill captures the essence of these abilities, and that including it strengthens the servant leader’s impact on workplace spirituality, ultimately influencing employee creativity.
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Servant leadership is related to follower outcomes not directly related to performance, such as work-family positive spillover, work-family balance, and workplace spirituality.
“Servant leadership is related with follower outcomes not directly related to performance such as work-family positive spillover, work-family balance (Wang, Kwan, & Zhou, 2017), and workplace spirituality, a concept that concerns an employee's community, meaningful work, and inner life (Williams, Randolph-Seng, Hayek, Haden, & Atinc, 2017).”
From Taking Stock of Moral Approaches to Leadership: An Integrative Review of Ethical, Authentic, and Servant Leadership (2019) · cites this paper as Williams, Randolph-Seng, Hayek, Haden, & Atinc, 2017
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“By fostering followers’ growth and satisfying their needs in an authentic and empowering manner, servant leaders influence followers’ creative potential and organizational outcomes (Williams et al., 2017).”
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“These outcomes resonate with Paul & Jena (2022) and Williams et al. (2017), who found that workplace spirituality enhances educator resilience and, indirectly, student outcomes.”
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“…be impossible for volunteer leaders to steward others along ethical/authentic principles if they do not reflect servant behaviours of humility to listen to diverse views and accept criticism from their followers (Williams et al., 2017; Winston & Fields, 2015; Yang et al., 2017; Zhao et al., 2016).”
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“Servant leaders communicate, and Jesus communicated about the new leadership structure three times as much as He did the old in implementing a servant leadership culture (Williams et al., 2017). www.ej-theology.org DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.24018/theology.2022.2.2.61 Vol 2 | Issue 2 | March 2022 7”
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Liland, T. (2024) · Scandinavian Journal for Leadership & Theology · doi:10.53311/sjlt.v11.98 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…of studies are indicating a positive correlation between servant leadership and both innovation and creativity (Yoshida et al., 2014), more specifically, employee innovative behavior (Wang et al., 2019), creativity (Williams et al., 2017), and even management innovation (Karatepe et al., 2020).”
BackgroundZhou, S. (2024) · The EUrASEANs: journal on global socio-economic dynamics · doi:10.35678/2539-5645.2(45).2024.566-579 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
“…of community in the entrepreneurial process through the workplace spirituality of the higher-order inner experience, which will strengthen the passion and intrinsic motivation to work on innovation (Williams et al., 2017) and ultimately further enhance the innovative behavior of the employees.”
BackgroundMethodResultInfluentialPalanović, A., & Kovačić, M. (2023) · Current Psychology · doi:10.1007/s12144-023-04865-x · Cited by 1
“Most of the research on leader political skill has established that this social competency interacts with core leader characteristics and enhances their positive effect on leadership behaviors and outcomes (e.g., Kapoutsis et al., 2019; Williams et al., 2017).”
Zhou, G., Elnura, M., & Wang, G. (2023) · International Journal of Distance Education Technologies · doi:10.4018/ijdet.323920 · Cited by 1
“Creativity is generally defined as the ability to generate new and useful ideas, processes, and products (Williams et al., 2017).”
BackgroundYıldırım, K. E. (2019) · İşletme Araştırmaları Dergisi · doi:10.20491/isarder.2019.737 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
THE INFLUENCE OF WORKPLACE SPIRITUALITY TO PSYCHOLOGY CAPITAL IN TAIWAN HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY
Chen, M.-C. (2019) · EPH - International Journal of Business & Management Science · doi:10.53555/eijbms.v7i1.113 · Cited by 1
“So, Williams et al. (2017) found that workplace spirituality has a great influence on the creativity of the employees.”
BackgroundVisual Images of People at Work: Influences on Organizational Citizenship Behavior
Randolph-Seng, B., Smith, B., & Slobodnikova, A. (2018) · Emerald Group Publishing Limited eBooks · doi:10.1108/s1529-209620180000019002 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
How Servant Leadership Principles Affect Employee Turnover at a Solid Waste Management Firm
Thacker, C., Sullivan, G., & Self, S. (2019) · Journal of Leadership, Accountability and Ethics · doi:10.33423/jlae.v16i2.2023 · Cited by 1 · see citing works
Political Skill and Job Alienation: The Mediating Role of Workplace Positivity
Obaied, A. H. (2026) · Electronic Journal of Business and Management · doi:10.65136/ejbm.v11i3.272
“…thereby enhancing trust and increasing the effectiveness of influencing others (Ferris et al., 2005; Ferris et al., 2007; Konakli, 2016; Andrews et al., 2009; Bing et al., 2011; Blass & Ferris, 2007; Brouer et al., 2009; Williams et al., 2017; Treadway et al., 2013; Ewen et al., 2013).”
Phuong, A. T. T., & Pham, N. D. (2026) · Journal of Accounting & Organizational Change · doi:10.1108/jaoc-06-2025-0216
Alsaiari Taleb Mohammed, N., Rahman, S. A. P. A., & Ibrahim, A. (2025) · International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences · doi:10.6007/ijarbss/v15-i3/25026
“Further, a study by Williams et al. (2017) examined the effect of servant leadership on a sample of 280 graduate and undergraduate students from a U.S. public university.”
InfluentialShah, S. A., & Pahi, M. H. (2024) · Journal for Social Science Archives · doi:10.59075/jssa.v2i2.245
“The indulgence in ethical behavior makes them more committed to their work, and they tend to deliver greater work performance to achieve organizational objectives (Williams et al., 2017; Chan et al., 2022).”
The Changing World Of Sales Skills: From Live to a Mix of Live and Virtual Selling
Razmak, J., Pitzel, J., & Farhan, W. (2022) · Automation, Control, and Information Technology · doi:10.1109/acit57182.2022.9994163
“The previous types of skills encapsulate analytical, creative and initiative abilities that lead to persuasion, foresight, the ability to communicate and work with people, which are also the core of interpersonal skills [20, 26].”
BackgroundSpiritual Leadership and Crisis
Firestone, S. (2020) · doi:10.1007/978-3-030-44955-1_5
- Authors
- Williams, W. A., Brandon, R.-S., Hayek, M., Haden, S. P., & Atinc, G.
- Affiliations
- East Texas A&M University (US)
- Venue
- Leadership & Organization Development Journal
- Publisher
- Emerald
- Published
- 2017-04-03
- Volume
- 38
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 178-193
- ISSN
- 0143-7739 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2598851002
- Cited by
- 118
- References
- 0
- Citations by year
- 2026: 3 · 2025: 10 · 2024: 18 · 2023: 19 · 2022: 19 · 2021: 11 · 2020: 14 · 2019: 12 · 2018: 11 · 2017: 1
- FWCI
- 27.02
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Leadership & Organization Development Journal (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Demography › Workplace Spirituality and Leadership
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
- Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Leadership and Management in Organizations
- Keywords
- servant leadership, political skill, workplace spirituality, employee creativity, followership, conceptual skills
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