Followers' characteristics as predictors of their preference for servant leadership: A followership approach

Until recently, the vast majority of leadership research has been leader-focused, examining leader characteristics and behaviors that make for effective leadership. A more recent shift towards followership "reverses the lens" by focusing on how followers' perceptions of their role in the leadership process affects the leaders' effectiveness. Servant leadership is a follower-focused leadership style in which the leader's main goal is to selflessly serve followers' needs first and foremost. This study examined the relationships between five personal characteristics and preference for servant leadership, and the mediating effect of followers' implicit leadership theories (ILTs) and implicit followership theories (IFTs) on those relationships. Participants included undergraduate and graduate students who participated as part of an extra credit class assignment. Data were gathered in three phases, each of which were two weeks apart, with the personality characteristic variables being collected in phase 1, the implicit leadership and followership theories at phase 2, and the dependent variable, preference for servant leadership, collected at phase 3.;After conducting a factor analysis to evaluate the co-production of leadership scale developed for this thesis, multiple regression analyses were conducted to test hypotheses concerning direct predictors of servant leader preference, and bootstrap analyses were used to test the mediation hypotheses. Additional exploratory analyses included data on the dichotomous choice of the servant leader versus the other leadership styles presented. The results of this study showed limited support that personal characteristics and values are useful in predicting servant leadership preference. Nevertheless, some insights were gained regarding personal characteristics that predicted preference for servant leadership, particularly with regard to proactive personality. In addition, the findings clarified the relationship between co-production of leadership beliefs (IFTs) and prototypical ILTs and anti-prototypical ILTs. Followers who held strong co-production of leadership beliefs also held prototypical ILTs. Conversely, those who held weaker co-production of leadership beliefs held anti-prototypical ILTs. Results suggest that although the characteristics examined in this study were not strong predictors of preference for servant leadership, some characteristics are important and should be examined further. Additional research in this area will expand our understanding of how follower characteristics and context impact preference for a leadership style, allowing for a more holistic understanding of the leadership process.