The DOI matches its Crossref record; 119 of the 121 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Servant Leadership: A Review and Synthesis
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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In the citing paper
“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)
In the citing paper
“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
In the citing paper
“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
Citations
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Cited by
Sorted by citations
The Job Demands‐Resources model: state of the art
Bakker, A. B., & Demerouti, E. (2007) · Journal of Managerial Psychology · doi:10.1108/02683940710733115 · Cited by 12,996
Servant Leadership: A systematic review and call for future research
Eva, N., Robin, M., Sendjaya, S., van Dierendonck, D., & Liden, R. C. (2019) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2018.07.004 · Cited by 1,858
“Individual Follower need satisfaction Employee engagement van Dierendonck et al. (2014)”
BackgroundMethodInfluentialDinh, J. E., Lord, R. G., Gardner, W. L., Meuser, J. D., Liden, R. C., & Hu, J. (2014) · The Leadership Quarterly · doi:10.1016/j.leaqua.2013.11.005 · Cited by 1,426
Servant Leadership and Serving Culture: Influence on Individual and Unit Performance
Liden, R. C., Wayne, S. J., Liao, C., & Meuser, J. D. (2013) · Academy of Management Journal · doi:10.5465/amj.2013.0034 · Cited by 1,281
A systematic literature review of servant leadership theory in organizational contexts
Parris, D. L., & Peachey, J. W. (2013) · Journal of Business Ethics · doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1322-6 · Cited by 957
Metadata
- 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
- 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
- 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 › Business, Management and Accounting › Organizational Behavior and Human Resource Management › 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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