Examining the Effect of Servant Leadership on Organisational Trust and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour

Abstract

The aim of this study is to examine the effect of servant leadership on organisational trust and organisational citizenship behaviour. The population of the study consists of nurses who were employed in three private hospitals owned by a health group in Ankara, Turkey. A survey was applied to 266 nurses through face-to-face interview method, and the data were analysed using various statistical analyses. The results of the analyses showed that servant leadership accounted for 40.8% of the total variance in organisational trust, and the rise in nurses’ perceptions of servant leadership statistically improved their perceptions of organisational trust. Also, servant leadership was found to account for 34.6% of the total variance in organisational citizenship behaviour, and the rise in nurses’ perceptions of servant leadership statistically improved their perceptions of organisational citizenship behaviours. In conclusion, it appears that it is highly essential for leaders to adopt a servant leadership approach towards their employees in order to increase trust and citizenship behaviour in their organisations.

Keywords

• nurse
• organisational citizenship behaviour
• organisational trust
• servant leadership