SOAS Research Online

Abstract

Servant leaders strive selflessly and altruistically to assist others before themselves, work to develop their followers to their greatest potential, and seek to benefit the wider community. This paper examines the trust-based mechanisms by which servant leadership influences organizational commitment in the Chinese public sector, using data from a survey of civil servants. Quantitative analysis shows that servant leadership strongly influences affective and normative commitment, while having no impact on continuance commitment. Furthermore, we find that affective trust rather than cognitive trust is the mechanism by which servant leadership induces higher levels of commitment. Our findings suggest that in a time of decreasing confidence levels in public leaders, servant leadership behavior may be used to reestablish trust and create legitimacy for the Chinese civil service.