Dealing with job burnout: Do servant leadership, employee engagement, and job satisfaction matter?

The “servant–leader is servant–first” approach enhances workers’ engagement and satisfaction, collectively reducing the impact of job burnout. This study aims to examine the mechanisms underlying healthcare workers’ job satisfaction and employee engagement, the relationships between servant leadership and job burnout, and the regulatory role of perceived organizational support in these relationships. Using convenience sampling, quantitative, multi-wave data were collected from N = 496 employees at district hospitals in Ghana. Data were analyzed using structural equation modeling and hierarchical multiple regression. The analysis showed that servant leadership was associated with job burnout. Servant leadership was higher among employees with higher job satisfaction and employee engagement. Likewise, job satisfaction and employee engagement were associated with job burnout. Employee engagement and job satisfaction mediated the link between servant leadership and job burnout, lowering the job burnout risk. Finally, perceived organizational support did not affect the relationships between servant leadership and employee engagement, or between servant leadership and job satisfaction. These outcomes suggest that leader–follower relationships at work are important to the psychosocial work environment and may serve as a resource for reducing burnout.