The relationship between servant leadership, role stress and coping in subordinate service roles
Date
2009-03
Authors
Baker, Mark
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Stellenbosch : University of Stellenbosch
Abstract
A study of the literature revealed that the concept of servant leadership is still in
need of further empirical research. It also became clear that the leadership style
employed by the supervisors of certain boundary spanning employees may have a
pivotal effect on the role stress they experience and the resulting coping
mechanisms they are likely to employ. Evidently, further investigation into the
relationship between the constructs of servant leadership, role stress and coping
could be valuable. An exploratory study to investigate these relationships was
therefore planned and executed. A correlative ex post facto study of nonexperimental
kind was followed making use of survey research. For this purpose a
composite questionnaire was created and used as the means of data gathering. The
questionnaires were directly administered by the researcher to the participants of a
large national retail organisation where the survey was conducted. A total of 290
respondents from six different stores of this organisation participated in the study.
The respondents occupying a specific type of boundary spanning role, known as the
subordinate service role (SSR), completed the composite questionnaire which
comprised of the rater version of the Servant Leadership Questionnaire of Barbuto
and Wheeler (2006), the role stress scale based on the research work of Hartline
and Ferrell (1996), and the Ways of Coping Questionnaire developed by Lazarus
and Folkman (1984). The SSR incumbents assessed the level of servant leadership
of their immediate supervisors, their own level of role stress and the coping
mechanisms which they typically employ. Answers were sought to three research
questions dealing with the content and configuration of the constructs as well as their
interrelations.
Description
Thesis (MComm (Industrial Psychology))--University of Stellenbosch, 2009.
Keywords
Role stress, Subordinate service roles, Dissertations -- Industrial psychology, Theses -- Industrial psychology, Servant leadership, Leadership -- Psychological aspects, Stress (Psychology)