Hotel employees' perceptions of supervisors' servant leadership behaviors, and relationships with employees' affective commitment

The purpose of this study was to assess hotel employees' perceptions of their present supervisors' servant leadership (SL) behaviors and the relationship of these behaviors with hotel employees' self-reported affective commitment (AC). There were 127 hotel employees who filled out the web-based surveys completed by 127 hotel employees working in the State of Iowa. The results indicated that hotel employees perceived their present supervisors' SL behaviors differently based on demographics. In addition, employees' perceptions of SL behaviors were positively correlated with their AC to the hotels. This study provides an empirical research of SL theory in the hotel industry and expands the research in SL behaviors and employees' AC to the hospitality industry. It also gives hotel employers an understanding of what benefits SL can bring and how to develop SL behaviors to increase their employees' AC.