Servant Leadership in a Marketing Context

Abstract

Research on Servant Leadership (SL) is gaining momentum in the management literature, but the role and effects of this style of leadership have not received much attention in the marketing literature. The purpose of this PhD thesis was, in three interconnected studies, to first investigate the foundations of SL, second, to review previous research on SL in the marketing literature, and third, to start exploring one of the promising avenues for future research by testing effects of SL on marketing creativity. The first study was the first in-depth citation analysis of SL research, using 24,030 references from the Web of Science spanning a period of 50 years. The analyses revealed eight distinct streams of research on SL, which emerged at different points in time, but have continued to coexist. The results provided first-hand insights into how the field evolved, where it is heading and how to advance future research. The second study filled a gap in the marketing literature by conducting the first systematic literature review of the effects of SL on marketing outcomes, reviewing publications from 228 marketing-indexed journals over the past 52 years. One key conclusion was that SL seems to be more conducive to creativity in marketing organizations than other common styles of leadership, though empirical evidence was lacking. In the third study, the comparative effects on creativity of four leadership styles (incl. SL) were tested in an experimental setting, using a sample of 526 marketing professionals. In line with the propositions, it was found that SL led to higher levels of marketing creativity in the followers, and this effect was mediated by psychological safety.