Exploring the Relationship Between Leaders’ Core Self-Evaluations and Subordinates’ Perceptions of Servant Leadership

Recent developments in servant leadership theory exposed a gap in the research literature regarding traits that are important to servant leaders. Our study partially addresses this gap by examining the trait of core self-evaluations and its relationship to servant leadership and leader effectiveness. The results of our study indicate that leader’s core self-evaluations are positively related to followers’ perceptions of servant leadership and leader effectiveness, and the relationship between leaders’ core self-evaluations and leader effectiveness is fully mediated by servant leadership. The results add support to current servant leadership theory by confirming the role that core self-evaluations play in servant leader emergence, and extend the research on core self-evaluations as it relates to leader performance.