Servant leadership has attracted the interest of both researchers and practitioners in the past decade because of its positive influence on performance outcomes compared to other leadership styles. However, more studies are required to validate this finding, as servant leadership is context-dependent. The key objective of this review is to synthesize the literature related to the influence of servant leadership on performance outcomes at various levels, whether individual, group, or organizational, through a systematic review by identifying the most relevant studies.
A systematic literature review following the review protocol of PRISMA 2020 was performed, resulting in 39 high-quality journal articles using the Scopus database published between 2008 and September 2024.
The final articles were carefully reviewed, and the findings were deeply discussed in terms of the key theories drawn on by scholars, identifying the various factors that influence the association between servant leadership and performance outcomes in various contexts, such as hospitality and tourism, manufacturing, banking, sales, and airlines. Hospitality and tourism literature was the highest among the final studies. Moreover, this study proposes an integrated conceptual model and identifies the key limitations and gaps in the literature, as well as avenues for future research that will be valuable for scholars in this field for future investigations.
This review offers valuable insights to practitioners as well as organisations that seek to enhance their performance by employing servant leadership and considering the discussed supporting factors, which can open the door for new business growth opportunities.
This study proposes an integrated conceptual model related to servant leadership influence on performance outcomes, which offers practical direction to practitioners in this field as well as scholarly insights for future research directions.
