The interplay of servant leadership behaviors and Machiavellianism on perceived leader effectiveness: the role of team conflict management

Abstract

Purpose – This paper aims to examine the influence of the interplay between servant leadership behaviors and Machiavellianism on leader effectiveness. Design/methodology/approach – Drawing on trait activation theory and motivation to lead theory, the authors hypothesize that the effect of servant leadership behaviors on perceived leadership effectiveness is manifested differently in teams with high-Machiavellian vs. low-Machiavellian leaders. In teams with low-Machiavellian leaders, servant leadership behaviors are expected to be associated with a cooperative way of handling team conflicts, which enhances employees' leader effectiveness ratings. In contrast, in teams with high-Machiavellian leaders, this mediation role vanishes due to the incongruency between Machiavellian traits and the cooperative context. The authors conducted a two-wave survey-based study and tested the hypotheses with a matched supervisor-employee sample from 310 employees and their leaders in 91 teams. Findings – The results showed that servant leadership behaviors positively impact leadership effectiveness and that this effect takes place through cooperative team conflict management (TCM) without controlling for leaders' Machiavellian trait. Further analysis shows this mediation mechanism is only strong and significant in teams led by low-Machiavellian leaders, but not high-Machiavellian leaders. Originality/value – To the authors’ best knowledge, this is the first study that examines the interplay of servant leadership behaviors and Machiavellianism on perceived leader effectiveness. 研究目的 – 本文旨在探討僕人式領導行為與馬基雅維利主義之間的相互作用會如何影響領導效能。 研究設計/方法/理念 – 我們根據特質激活理論和領導動機理論、建立了一個假設，這個假設就是： 僕人式領導行為對感知的領導效能所產生並顯示出來的影響、是會視乎團隊是高/強馬基雅維利主義，還是低/弱馬基雅維利主義而有所分別的。若團隊的領導者是低/弱馬基雅維利主義的話，僕人式領導行為大概會與使用合作的方式去處理團隊衝突有相互之關聯，這會提高僱員對領導效能的評分。與此相反，若團隊的領導者是高/強馬基雅維利主義的話，這調節作用和角色將會因馬基雅維利主義的特質與合作的環境之間存在著不協調而消失。我們進行了一個兩波的、以及基於調查的研究，在這研究中，我們利用管理者和員工相應的樣本來測試各個假設;這些樣本包括91個團隊內的310名員工及其領導者。 研究結果 – 研究結果顯示、僕人式領導行為對領導效能會產生積極的影響，而這影響是透過以合作方式管理團隊衝突而產生的，亦沒有對領導者的馬基雅維利主義特質加以管控。我們進一步的分析顯示、這調節機制只會在由低/弱馬基雅維利主義的領導者領導的團隊內顯得強烈和顯著，但若領導者是高/強馬基雅維利主義的話，情況就不一樣了。 研究的原創性 – 盡我們所知，本研究為首個研究、去探討僕人式領導行為與馬基雅維利主義之間的相互作用會如何影響感知的領導效能。

Keywords

• Servant leadership
• Leadership effectiveness
• Team conflict management
• Machiavellian
• 僕人式領導
• 領導效能