Impact of servant leadership on employee work engagement: mediating role of psychological climate

Abstract

This study examined the influence of servant leadership (SL) on the faculty’s work engagement. It also examined psychological climate (PC) as mediating variable in this relationship. Moreover, this study has considered social exchange theory (SET) as a base theory to explain the relationship between SL, PC, and work engagement. A quantitative research design was applied and data was collected using questionnaires from faculty members of Pakistani universities. A total of 276 datasets were analyzed through Structural Equation Modeling using SPSS version 27.0 and Smart-PLS 3. The findings of this study provide evidence that SL is the key leadership style for Pakistani universities. In addition, the PC significantly mediates the relationship between SL and faculty members’ work engagement. In conclusion, the current study has extended the SET by incorporating PC as a mediator between the relationship of SL and the work engagement of faculty members in Pakistani universities. The findings are useful to the universities of Pakistan to consider the SL practices that are important in shaping the powerful motivational process of PC to enhance the level of work engagement among faculty members.