Committed, Healthy, and Engaged? Linking Servant Leadership and Adaptive Performance Through Sequential Mediation by Job Embeddedness and Burnout

Abstract

Research assumes an effect of servant leadership on adaptive performance but has neglected the psychological processes underlying this link. Based on Social Exchange Theory and Job Demands–Resources Theory, this study sheds light on how servant leadership triggers job embeddedness, adaptive performance, and mitigates burnout. It also examines the mediating roles of job embeddedness and burnout between servant leadership and adaptive performance. We used three-wave data of 318 employees and their supervisors in the hospitality industry of Pakistan, applying structural equation modeling to examine six main effect hypotheses and three mediation hypotheses. Our findings suggest that servant leadership practices foster employees’ job embeddedness and adaptive performance, and mitigate burnout. Job embeddedness and burnout sequentially mediate the relationship between servant leadership and adaptive performance. Further unraveling the mechanisms between servant leadership and adaptive performance, this study implies that managers should recognize employee-perceived servant leadership as an influential factor that enhances engagement and well-being and ultimately the adaptive performance of their followers.