textPurpose:
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and validation of a multi-dimensional instrument to measure servant leadership. 
Design/Methodology/Approach 
Based on an extensive literature review and expert judgment, 99 items were formulated. In three steps, using eight samples totaling 1571 persons from The Netherlands and the UK with a diverse occupational background, a combined exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis approach was used. This was followed by an analysis of the criterion-related validity. 
Findings:
The final result is an eight-dimensional measure of 30 items: the eight dimensions being: standing back, forgiveness, courage, empowerment, accountability, authenticity, humility, and stewardship. The internal consistency of the subscales is good. The results show that the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) has convergent validity with other leadership measures, and also adds unique elements to the leadership field. Evidence for criterion-related validity came from studies relating the eight dimensions to well-being and performance. 
Implications: 
With this survey, a valid and reliable instrument to measure the essential elements of servant leadership has been introduced.
Originality/Value 
The SLS is the first measure where the underlying factor structure was developed and confirmed across several field studies in two countries. It can be used in future studies to test the underlying premises of servant leadership theory. The SLS provides a clear picture of the key servant leadership qualities and shows where improvements can be made on the individual and organizational level; as such, it may also offer a valuable starting point for training and leadership development.

The Servant Leadership Survey: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure

Objects look different sizes in the right and left eyes

Extant research has uniformly demonstrated that leader humility is beneficial for subordinates, teams, and even organizations. Drawing upon attribution theory, we challenge this prevailing conclusion by identifying a potential dark side of leader humility and suggesting that leader humility can be a mixed blessing. We propose that the effects of leader humility hinge on subordinates' attributions of such humble behavior. On the one hand, when subordinates attribute leader humility in a self-serving way, leader humility is positively associated with subordinate psychological entitlement, which in turn increases workplace deviance. On the other hand, when subordinates do not attribute leader humility in a self-serving way, leader humility is positively associated with leader-member exchange, which in turn decreases workplace deviance. We found support for our hypotheses across a field study and an experiment. Taken together, our findings reveal the perils and benefits of leader humility and the importance of examining subordinate attributions in this unique leadership process. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2020 APA, all rights reserved).

The double-edged sword of leader humility: Investigating when and why leader humility promotes versus inhibits subordinate deviance.

We hypothesize that (a) the level of humility expressed by leaders predicts team performance through, serially, team humility and team PsyCap, and (b) the strength (i.e., consensus within the team) of the leader humility, team humility and team PsyCap moderates the paths of that hypothesized model. A sample comprising 82 teams (82 leaders; 332 team members) was collected. Team members reported leader humility, team humility and team PsyCap. Leaders reported team performance. To handle the risks of common method bias, each mediating path of the hypothesized model is based on data from two different subsamples within each team. Our model's most novel theoretical contribution is the (moderated mediated) connection between leader humility, collective humility, and team PsyCap, and this was consistently supported in our data. Our inconsistent findings dealing with the relationship between team PsyCap and performance is well established in the literature and our results in both sub-samples were in the theorized direction. The study contributes to understand why , how and when humble leaders are more effective.

How leader humility helps teams to be humbler, psychologically stronger, and more effective: a moderated mediation model

: Weiss (1977, 1978) has shown that low self esteem workers are more likely to model the role behaviors and work values of superiors than are high self esteem workers. He has argued that new employees are 'problem solvers' attempting to determine the most appropriate role behaviors for their new work situation. He has also argued that high self esteem individuals search for less information on problem solving tasks and are therefore less likely to seek and use models to help them define their roles. This study examined whether self esteem is, in fact, negatively related to information search. It also examined whether the greater information search among low esteem individuals would result in more effective performance on a problem soving task where search is functional. Results showed that, as expected, low self esteem subjects searched for more information, search was functional and low self esteem subjects were significantly better performers on the task. The results are contrasted with previous studies of self esteem and performance and discussed in terms in person x situation interactions and the functional and dysfunctional aspects of high self esteem in relation to various types of organizational problems. (Author)

Self Esteem, Information Search and Problem Solving Efficiency.

https://bura.brunel.ac.uk/bitstream/2438/17916/1/FullText.pdf

Leader humility and team performance: exploring the mediating mechanisms of team PsyCap and task allocation effectiveness

Empirical studies on humility in the area of organizational studies are still scarce, as are studies of humility in leadership. This research aims to contribute to the literature by studying how the humility of leaders predicts the team's creativity through the mediating effect of psychological security and psychological capital.,The sample includes 73 teams and their leaders, from 40 firms operating in different industries. Leaders (n = 73) described their own humility and team creativity. Team members (n = 341) described the leader’s humility, and the team’s psychological safety and psychological capital.,Structural equation modelling (LISREL; maximum likelihood estimation) was used to test the hypothesized model. The findings are represented in Figure 1 (control variables not shown), and the results suggest that the leader’s humility predicts team creativity through team’s psychological safety (PsySafe) and psychological capital (PsyCap).,Main limitations are the small sample size, and the fact that it is a convenience sample, which may limit the generalization of results. One may add the need to conduct longitudinal studies, as well as have a comparison among different regions or countries. These issues are addressed in the study.,This paper contributes to the still limited literature relating humility and leadership. For organizations, if they want to be effective in innovating, they need to understand the influence of the mechanisms that the employees are exposed to and how they influence their creativity. Knowing the positive role of humble leadership in creativity development and employee motivation is particularly interesting for leaders working in the context of creativity, as it is a way of facilitating creativity of employees.

Lurdes Gonçalves

Papers

Leader humility and team performance: exploring the mediating mechanisms of team PsyCap and task allocation effectiveness

How leader humility helps teams to be humbler, psychologically stronger, and more effective: a moderated mediation model

The relation between leader’s humility and team creativity