The impact of servant leadership and transformational leadership on learning organization: a comparative analysis

Abstract

Purpose Leadership has a powerful influence on learning and development in today's organizations. Various types of leadership have been found to be conducive to building a learning organization. This empirical study compared the effect of transformational and servant leadership on a learning organization (an organization that constantly transforms itself using learning and development techniques) in the context of Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Design/methodology/approach Four proposed hypotheses were tested using structural equation modeling. Findings The results show that servant leadership has no significant relationship to learning organization, whereas transformational leadership is a strong predictor. Originality/value This research compares two different leadership styles and presents theoretical and practical implications for scholars and practitioners. In particular, this study advances our understanding of how and which leadership style relates to learning organization by examining a structural model with three latent variables: servant leadership, transformational leadership, and learning organization.