Servant leadership and its association with an environment of empathic care: an empirical analysis of the perspectives of mid-level practitioners
ISSN: 1751-1879
Article publication date: 4 November 2021
Issue publication date: 10 January 2022
Abstract
Purpose
At the nexus of servant leadership and empathic care, this paper aims to explore the perceptions that mid-level practitioners express regarding the role that servant leadership plays in fostering an environment of empathic care.
Design/methodology/approach
The authors surveyed mid-level practitioners across a large integrated health system (n = 167). Through exploratory factor analysis, we identify factors that serve as antecedents to an environment of empathic care. The factor analysis was complimented with partial least squares structural equation modeling to test a theoretical model of empathic care.
Findings
The model explains approximately 37% of the variance observed in an empathic care environment (R2 = 0.372). The authors identify key constructs within servant leadership that health-care leaders can focus their efforts on to promote an environment of empathic care.
Originality/value
This study answers multiple calls for more empirical research into servant leadership and is one of the few studies that explores servant leadership within an exogeneous context. This research focuses on the perceptions of mid-level providers, whereas most extant servant leadership and empathy research focuses on the perceptions of patients. The authors extend servant leadership theory in a health-care context and support prior findings that servant leadership is a multidimensional construct. The authors outline a sound methodological approach for investigating the linkage between specific principles of servant leadership that can serve as predictors for the creation of an environment of empathic care.
Keywords
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank the practitioners who took the time to participate in the survey that made this work possible. The authors would also like to acknowledge the contributions of the researchers that preceded them in trying to better understand the implications of servant leadership in health care. Additionally, the authors thank the editors and the reviewers whose invaluable feedback helped them to craft a much stronger articulation of their synthesis of prior research.
Funding: This study was conducted without funding.
Contributorship Statement: The authors equally participated in the preparation of this manuscript.
Competing Interests: All authors attest that there are no conflicts of interest associated with this research.
Research Ethics Approval: The survey data obtained for this paper was originally reviewed by the IRB at Antioch University’s PhD in Leadership and Change Program (IORG0003126), IRB protocol number IRB00003744 – Antioch U IRB#1 – Leadership and Change.
Citation
Silver, R. and Martin, M. (2022), "Servant leadership and its association with an environment of empathic care: an empirical analysis of the perspectives of mid-level practitioners", Leadership in Health Services, Vol. 35 No. 1, pp. 116-136. https://doi.org/10.1108/LHS-06-2021-0052
Publisher
:Emerald Publishing Limited
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