The Measurement of Servant Leadership
Validation of a German Version of the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS)
Abstract
A new research stream in the field of leadership that has been linked to managerial ethics is servant leadership. The present study investigated the psychometric properties of a German version of the multidimensional Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) developed by Van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011). Based on ratings by 533 participants from various branches of business, results from a confirmatory analysis demonstrated that the translated instrument had adequate factorial validity. In terms of content validity, results showed that servant leadership was related to other relevant leadership measures such as transformational leadership and ethical leadership. Evidence for criterion-related validity was based on findings relating servant leadership to leader-member exchange as well as positive work-related attitudes and behavioral orientations such as job satisfaction, affective commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Moreover, servant leadership was found to be related to important self-constructs of the followers including occupational self-efficacy and organization-based self-esteem. Overall, the results suggest that the translated servant leadership instrument represents a valid and reliable measure that can be used in the area of leadership research with German-speaking samples.
Seit einigen Jahren zeichnet sich in der Führungsforschung eine verstärkte Hinwendung zu ethikbezogenen Fragestellungen ab. Ein Führungskonzept, welches in diesem Zusammenhang zunehmend Aufmerksamkeit erfährt, ist Servant Leadership, was sich im Deutschen mit „dienende Führung” übersetzen lässt. Dieses Führungsverständnis geht auf die Arbeiten von Robert K. Greenleaf zurück (1904 – 1990), welcher die entsprechenden Grundgedanken bereits 1970 in einem Essay mit dem bezeichnenden Titel „The Servant as Leader” darlegte. Servant Leadership ist in erster Linie durch eine „Deglorifizierung” der Führungsrolle gekennzeichnet. Dies bedeutet, dass nicht das genuine Streben nach Macht und Einfluss die Führungsrolle konstituiert; vielmehr misst Servant Leadership der Entwicklung und den legitimen Interessen der Mitarbeiter, aber auch der Gesellschaft eine hohe Priorität bei. Tatsächlich stellt Servant Leadership das einzige Führungskonzept dar, welches explizit eine altruisische Grundhaltung sowie das Eintreten für andere in den Mittelpunkt stellt. Das Ziel der vorliegenden Studie bestand darin, das Konzept der dienenden Führung im deutschsprachigen Raum empirisch zu untersuchen. Dazu wurde die 30-Item-Skala nach Van Dierendonck und Nuijten (2011) zur Erfassung von Servant Leadership übersetzt und evaluiert. In einer Fragebogenstudie mit 533 Beschäftigten aus verschiedenen Branchen konnte die Faktorstruktur der Originalversion repliziert werden. Mit Bezug auf die Inhaltsvalidität konnte gezeigt werden, dass Servant Leadership Überlappungen mit ähnlichen Führungskonzepten, wie der transformationalen sowie ethischen Führung aufweist. Im Sinne der kriteriumsbezogenen Validität wurden positive Zusammenhänge mit der erlebten Beziehungsqualität zum Vorgesetzten, der Arbeitszufriedenheit, dem affektiven Commitment und dem freiwilligen Arbeitsengagement gefunden. Darüber hinaus konnte gezeigt werden, dass Servant Leadership positiv mit dem organisationalen Selbstwert sowie dem arbeitsbezogenen Selbstwirksamkeitserleben der Befragten korreliert. Insgesamt liegt nun ein psychometrisch valides Verfahren zur Erfassung von Servant Leadership im deutschsprachigen Kontext vor.
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