Shanghai University of Finance and Economics, China
Drawing on the social capital perspective, this study investigates how and when servant leadership benefits leaders’ own well-being outcomes. We propose that servant leadership behaviors can enable leaders’ relational-based and instrumental-based social capital to contribute to their work-related outcomes with well-being implications. We also posit that these beneficial effects of servant leadership can vary with leaders’ self-perceived competence and warmth. A total of 263 employees and 86 supervisors participated in the multi-source, three-wave survey. The findings confirm a mediation model where servant leadership benefits leaders’ own well-being, manifested by increased thriving and decreased work–family conflict and ego depletion, through social capital that builds on relational (leader–team exchange) and instrumental (superior-recognized performance) pathways. Leader characteristics, specifically competence and warmth, strengthened these relationships. The study contributes to the literature by shifting the focus to the effects of servant leadership on leaders themselves and clarifying explanatory mechanisms and boundary conditions underlying these effects. From a practical perspective, our findings highlight the importance of fostering a culture that actively encourages servant leadership behaviors while nurturing leaders equipped with positive self-evaluative cognitions.
