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Work–Family Effects of Servant Leadership: The Roles of Emotional Exhaustion and Personal Learning

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Abstract

This study examined how servant leadership influences employees in terms of work-to-family conflict (WFC) and work-to-family positive spillover (WFPS). These effects were explored through a focus on the mediating roles of emotional exhaustion and personal learning. The results, which were based on time-lagged data collection in China, indicated that employee perceptions of servant leadership related negatively to WFC and positively to WFPS. Moreover, reduced emotional exhaustion and enhanced personal learning mediated the relationship between servant leadership and WFPS. Furthermore, reduced emotional exhaustion (but not enhanced personal learning) mediated the relationship between servant leadership and WFC. Our study’s results provide insightful theoretical and managerial implications and offer new directions for research on leadership and work–family relations.

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Acknowledgment

We are grateful to the generous support of the National Social Science Fund (14BGL073) and Shanghai University of Finance and Economics Grant (2014110766) for this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Management, Shandong University, Jinan, People’s Republic of China

    Guiyao Tang

  2. School of International Business Administration, Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, 777 Guoding Road, Shanghai, 200433, People’s Republic of China

    Ho Kwong Kwan, Deyuan Zhang & Zhou Zhu

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  1. Guiyao Tang
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  2. Ho Kwong Kwan
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Correspondence to Ho Kwong Kwan.

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Tang, G., Kwan, H.K., Zhang, D. et al. Work–Family Effects of Servant Leadership: The Roles of Emotional Exhaustion and Personal Learning. J Bus Ethics 137, 285–297 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-015-2559-7

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