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Cited by 2,331Leadership and Management in OrganizationsJob Satisfaction and Organizational BehaviorWorkplace Spirituality and Leadership

Servant Leadership: A Review and Synthesis

van Dierendonck, Dirk·2011·Journal of Management
DOI 10.1177/0149206310380462
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Abstract

Servant leadership is positioned as a new field of research for leadership scholars. This review deals with the historical background of servant leadership, its key characteristics, the available measurement tools, and the results of relevant studies that have been conducted so far. An overall conceptual model of servant leadership is presented. It is argued that leaders who combine their motivation to lead with a need to serve display servant leadership. Personal characteristics and culture are positioned alongside the motivational dimension. Servant leadership is demonstrated by empowering and developing people; by expressing humility, authenticity, interpersonal acceptance, and stewardship; and by providing direction. A high-quality dyadic relationship, trust, and fairness are expected to be the most important mediating processes to encourage self-actualization, positive job attitudes, performance, and a stronger organizational focus on sustainability and corporate social responsibility.

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Crossref · 10.1177/0149206310380462

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118 of 118 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

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  • A synthesis of 39 quantitative papers concluded that servant leadership's hallmarks (humility, empowerment, stewardship, and community building) predict stronger follower well-being and cooperative norms than transformational or transactional styles.

    “Van Dierendonck (2011) synthesized 39 quantitative papers, concluding that SL's hallmarks-humility, empowerment, stewardship, and community building-predict stronger follower well-being and cooperative norms than transformational or transactional styles.”

    From Servant Leadership as a Driver of Team Cohesion and Conflict Mitigation: The Mediating Role of Psychological Safety (2025) · cites this paper as Van Dierendonck (2011)

  • Greenleaf's conceptualization of servant leadership is frequently referenced, but its usefulness as a construct definition is limited due to defining servant leadership in terms of its outcomes rather than its behaviors.

    “This conceptualization is frequently referenced (e.g., Pless & Maak, 2011;van Dierendonck, 2011), but its usefulness as a construct definition is limited due to defining servant leadership in terms of its outcomes rather than its behaviors.”

    From Taking Stock of Moral Approaches to Leadership: An Integrative Review of Ethical, Authentic, and Servant Leadership (2019) · cites this paper as van Dierendonck, 2011

  • Servant leaders believe that serving other stakeholders benefits the organization because it leads to long-term organizational success.

    “Similar to stakeholder theory (de Luque, Washburn, Waldman, & House, 2008;Freeman, 1984), servant leaders believe that serving other stakeholders benefits the organization because it leads to long-term organizational success (van Dierendonck, 2011).”

    From Taking Stock of Moral Approaches to Leadership: An Integrative Review of Ethical, Authentic, and Servant Leadership (2019) · cites this paper as van Dierendonck, 2011

Cites

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3 of the 121 references couldn’t be matched to a known paper.

Research works printed but not linked: 26

  1. Bass, B.M., 1985, Leadership and performance: Beyond expectations
  2. Block, P., Keynote address, 2005 International Servant-Leadership Conference, Indianapolis, Indiana, United States of Americas
  3. Burns, J.M., 1978, Leadership
  4. Carl, D., 2004, Power distance
  5. Dannhauser, Z., Paper presented at the Servant Leadership Roundtable at Regent University
  6. Dannhauser, Z., 2007, International Journal of Leadership Studies, 2, 148
  7. Earnhardt, M.P., Paper presented at the Servant Leadership Roundtable at Regent University
  8. Giacalone, R.A., 2003, Toward a science of workplace spirituality
  9. Hebert, S.C., 2003, The relationship of perceived servant leadership and job satisfaction from the follower’s perspective
  10. Horsman, J.H., 2001, Perspectives of servant-leadership and spirit in organizations
  11. Irving, J.A., 2007, International Journal of Leadership Studies, 2, 98
  12. Kabasakal, H., 2004, Humane orientation in societies, organizations, and leader attributes
  13. Kohlberg, L., 1969, Stage and sequence: The cognitive developmental approach to socialization
  14. Laub, J.A., 1999, Dissertation Abstracts International, 60, 308A
  15. Liden, R.C., 1998, Journal of Management, 24, 43
  16. Luthans, F., 2003, Authentic leadership development
  17. Matteson, J.A., Paper presented at the Servant Leadership Roundtable at Regent University
  18. McCullough, M.E., 2000, What we know (and need to know) about assessing forgiveness constructs
  19. McGee-Cooper, A., 2001, The essentials of servant-leadership: Principles in practice
  20. Page, D., 2000, A conceptual framework for measuring servant leadership
  21. Reinke, S.J., 2004, Global Virtue Ethics Review, 3, 30
  22. Sipe, J.W., 2009, Seven pillars of servant leadership: Practicing the wisdom of leading by serving
  23. West, G.R.B., Paper presented at the Servant Leadership Roundtable at Regent University
  24. Winston, B.E., Paper presented at the Servant Leadership Roundtable at Regent University
  25. Winston, B.E., 2008, International Journal of Leadership Studies, 3, 212
  26. Wong, P.T.P., Paper presented at the Servant Leadership Research Roundtable, Regent University

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Authors
van Dierendonck, D.
Affiliations
Erasmus University,
Venue
Journal of Management
Publisher
SAGE Publications
Published
2010-09-02
Volume
37
Issue
4
Pages
1228-1261
ISSN
  • 0149-2063 (ISSN-L)
  • 1557-1211
DOI
10.1177/0149206310380462
OpenAlex
W2107975803
Semantic Scholar
0ae1a1103aa20c6d2826cfbef8291ae16ef9268b
Cited by
2,218
References
121
Citations by year
2026: 160 · 2025: 172 · 2024: 188 · 2023: 284 · 2022: 252 · 2021: 195 · 2020: 180 · 2019: 167 · 2018: 141 · 2017: 120 · 2016: 105 · 2015: 86 · 2014: 83 · 2013: 45 · 2012: 29
FWCI
76.32
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
journals.sagepub.com/page/policies/text-and-data-mining-license (tdm)
Locations
  • Journal of Management (publishedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (publishedVersion)
  • EUR Research Repository (Erasmus University Rotterdam) (submittedVersion)
Topics
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Strategy and Management › Leadership and Management in Organizations
  • Social Sciences › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior
  • Social Sciences › Demography › Workplace Spirituality and Leadership
Keywords
servant leadership, leadership motivation, organizational culture, empowerment, humility, authenticity, interpersonal acceptance, stewardship, trust, fairness, self-realization, employee attitudes, employee performance, organizational sustainability, corporate social responsibility

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