An Examination of Emotional Intelligence as an Antecedent of Servant Leadership

TLDR

Servant leadership is a people‑centered approach that organizations increasingly seek, yet research on its antecedents remains scarce. The study examined whether emotional intelligence predicts the dimensions of servant leadership. Among 75 civic leaders and 401 followers, emotional intelligence predicted leaders’ servant‑leader ideology but not follower‑rated servant‑leader behaviors.

Abstract

Servant leadership is an approach to leadership that involves a leader’s deeply rooted desire to serve subordinates. As the need for more people-centered leadership evolves, organizations increasingly want leaders who are driven to serve the people they lead, and they are seeking ways to identify predictors of servant leadership to ensure that those they place in management positions possess the attributes of a servant leader. Until now, very little research has been conducted in this area. Thus, we investigated emotional intelligence as an antecedent of the different dimensions of servant leadership. Our findings, based on assessments of 75 civic leaders and 401 of their followers, suggest that emotional intelligence is a good predictor of a leader’s servant-leader ideology (or approach toward leadership) but may not be a good predictor of servant-leader behaviors as rated by the leaders’ followers.