Interplay between servant leadership, leader-member-exchange and perceived organizational support: a moderated mediation model

Purpose: This study aims to investigate the effect of servant leadership on employee organizational identification and career satisfaction through the mediating lens of leader-member-exchange (LMX). Furthermore, this study also examines whether perceived organizational support (POS) strengthens the positive effect of servant leadership on LMX and subsequently, on employee organizational identification and career satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach: Survey data were collected from 314 respondents working in hotels in United States of America (USA). Structural equation modeling (SEM), hierarchical moderation analysis and bootstrapping were used to test the study hypotheses. Findings: Servant leadership was found to positively influence employee organizational identification and career satisfaction. Further, analysis revealed that LMX partially mediated the positive relationship between servant leadership and employee career satisfaction and fully mediated the positive relationship between servant leadership and organizational identification. However, although POS moderated the indirect relationship between servant leadership and employee’ career satisfaction, it did not moderate the indirect relationships between servant leadership and organizational identification. Practical implications: This study provides insight into the nexus of servant leadership and organizational support in hospitality industry to foster the employee organizational identification and career satisfaction which are extremely needed for competitive advantage in hotel industry. Originality/value: This study addresses recent calls for future researchers to investigate the important of servant leadership in the hospitality industry.