Serving followers and family? A trickle-down model of how servant leadership shapes employee work performance

Previous studies have identified servant leadership as an important driver of organizational effectiveness. However, so far little research attention has been given to whether servant leadership displayed by leaders across an organization’s hierarchy can increase the effectiveness of its members. In this study, we integrate prosociality models with role motivation theory and examine the extent to which managerial servant leadership trickles down to facilitate employee work performance. As part of our model, we consider the role of underlying mechanisms and a boundary condition related to the prosociality of supervisors (i.e., servant leadership and family motivation) and employees (i.e., prosocial motivation). Using a matched sample of employees and their supervisors from three companies in the Dominican Republic, multilevel structural equation modeling results show that manager servant leadership trickles down to inspire supervisor servant leadership, which in turn increases employee prosocial motivation and subsequent work performance. Furthermore, supervisor family motivation buffered the trickle-down mechanism in that the effect on employee work performance is weaker for supervisors with high levels of family motivation. Our research breaks new ground by shedding light on how and when servant leadership tickles down to shape employee work performance.