Servant leadership attributes in senior military officers: A quantitative study examining demographic factors

The research on servant leadership is being renewed. However, limited servant leadership research has been done in the military setting. The problem to be addressed by this quantitative study is that company grade officers are resigning their commissions at a rate higher than in previous years due to their perception that senior leaders in the military services are focused on their success and not that of their subordinates. Servant leadership traits, if possessed by a senior officer, could reduce such perceptions because a servant leader always places the welfare of his subordinates above his own. The purpose of this study was to examine servant leadership attributes in senior military officers and determine the scope of servant leadership attributes and the demographics that differentiate them. Wong and Page's Servant Leadership Profile -- Revised (SLP-R) survey was used to measure servant leadership. Participants included 131 male and 32 female current and former U.S. military officers at the Lieutenant Colonel/Commander or Colonel/Captain rank. Eighty-three percent of the participants were current students or alumni of Department of Defense senior service schools and were located predominately in the Washington, D.C. metro area. There were no differences in mean SLP-R scores among senior military officers across all five variables: combat experience, occupational specialty/designator, gender, branch of service, and age. Furthermore, there was no correlation between an officer's age and SLP-R mean score. United States military officers at the Colonel/Captain rank had significantly (p < .01) higher mean SLP-R scores than officers at the Lieutenant Colonel/Commander rank. Eighty percent of the participants surveyed showed strong servant leadership traits. This study provided a baseline for further research and may suggest the need for curriculum changes in officer training. This study confirmed a high percentage of self-identified servant leadership traits in the U.S. senior military officer cadre. Future research should explore why female officers tend to score lower on abuse of power and pride than their male counterparts to assist in the development of a servant leadership model for training. It is recommended that servant leadership be taught at military leadership schools specifically addressing power and pride.