The relationship between servant leadership, follower trust, team commitment and unit effectiveness

[摘要] A study of the literature revealed that the content and the structure of severalconstructs that are used in research in the framework of Positive OrganisationalBehaviour are subject to doubt. It also became clear that the relationship betweenthe constructs (servant leadership, trust, team commitment, and unit effectiveness)could profitably be investigated further. A study to obtain more clarity about theseaspects was therefore planned and executed. In order to conduct this exploratorysurvey research, an electronic web-based questionnaire was used as the method ofdata gathering. The questionnaire was programmed and posted for a period of threeweeks on the portal of the company where the survey was conducted. A total of 531respondents from the vehicle sales division of the particular organisation participatedin the study. Sales persons (n=417) who were working in 100 dealerships in theautomobile business completed three questionnaires. The three questionnaires werethe rater version of the Servant Leadership Questionnaire of Barbuto and Wheeler (aself-report version also exists), the Workplace Trust Survey developed by Ferres, theTeam Commitment Survey of Bennett. The sales persons assessed the level ofservant leadership of their superiors (sales managers) and their own levels of trustand of team commitment. The sales managers (n=114) assessed the effectiveness ofthe sales persons who reported to them by completing the Team EffectivenessQuestionnaire developed by Larson and LaFasto. The Directors who wereresponsible for the marketing of the products of the organisation completed aninternal questionnaire on the performance of the sales function in the dealerships.Answers were sought to five research questions, dealing with the content of theconstructs, their configurations, their interrelations and biographic and organisationalvariables that could possibly have an influence on the constructs.

[发布机构] Stellenbosch University