How have researchers related servant leadership to positive psychological capital, and in particular to hope?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Barbuto and Wheeler (2006) also developed servant leadership scales based on earlier descriptions of servant leaders (Greenleaf, 1977; Spears, 1995). They developed five dimensions—altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship. Searle and Barbuto (2011) further related these dimensions to positive psychological variables such as hope. Altruistic calling refers to the servant leaders’ conscious decision to serve others and willingness to sacrifice their own self-interests in order to aid their followers. Servant leaders promote emotional healing by helping followers recover from traumatic events. Servant leaders display wisdom when they understand the environment and the causes and consequences of various behaviors. Searle and Barbuto argued that altruistic calling promotes hope in followers, and that emotional healing helps with the will component of hope, whereas wisdom helps followers figure out the way. Persuasive mapping refers to the ability to use sound reasoning to develop mental models of the issues facing the followers. Like wisdom, it helps followers find the path and the way to success. Because servant leaders present their mental maps in an inspiring way, Searle and Barbuto argue that persuasive mapping also helps with willpower. Although servant leaders are highly concerned with individual followers, they also care about the overall community and society. Organizational stewardship thus refers to servant leaders’ desire to help the organizations they lead benefit their communities and all stakeholders involved. In terms of overall effectiveness, Searle and Barbuto (2011) argued that servant leadership should increase hope, which in turn should increase organizational performance.