Ups and Downs in Serving Us: Servant Leadership Behavior Variability Weakens the Benefit of Servant Leadership Behavior

Abstract

Despite abundant research on servant leadership, the existing focus predominantly adopted a between-person approach, without considering the within-person dynamism of servant leadership behavior across time. The present research aims to refine this status quo by taking a more nuanced perspective on the dynamic feature of servant leadership behavior. Specifically, we introduce the notion of servant leadership behavior variability to capture the instability of servant leadership behaviors over time. Drawing on adaptation level theory and attachment theory, we propose that the impact of servant leadership behavior on follower outcomes depends on servant leadership behavior variability. Four studies were conducted to identify this nuanced phenomenon and examine our hypotheses. In Study 1, we preliminarily explored the prevalence of servant leadership behavior variability in working contexts. Across two diary studies (Study 2–3), we consistently found that the positive effect of daily servant leadership behavior on follower’s outcomes was weakened by servant leadership behavior variability. In Study 4, we conducted a vignette-based experiment to establish the causality. Our research sheds lights on the dynamic nature of servant leadership behavior and reveal its temporal impact on followers.