AN ACTOR-CENTRIC APPROACH TO DAILY SERVANT LEADER BEHAVIORS: HOW AND WHEN SERVING OTHERS AFFECT THE LEADERS’ WORK AND FAMILY

Abstract

Despite extensive research into the effects of servant leader behaviors, the prior research has exclusively examined the recipient-centric between-person outcomes. To expand the nomological network of the effects of servant leader behaviors, the present research shifts the locus of theorizing and adopts an actor-centric within-person perspective. By integrating engagement theory (Kahn, 1990) and the Work-Home Resource model (ten Brummelhuis & Bakker, 2012), the current study examines whether those leaders who exhibit servant behaviors on a given day perceive any psychological costs and benefits, and if so, how those experiences affect their behaviors in the work and family domains (i.e., work engagement and family support). Using experience sampling data from 103 full-time employees, results revealed that leaders who engaged in servant leader behaviors more frequently on a given day were more likely to experience two psychological benefits (i.e., psychological meaningfulness and psychological authenticity), while experiencing a psychological cost (i.e., psychological depletion) afterward. As such, the current investigation represents a necessary first step in understanding both enrichment- and depletion-based daily experiences of serving others.