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Leading People Positively: Cross-Cultural Validation of the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS)

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 October 2014

Raquel Rodríguez-Carvajal ,
Sara de Rivas ,
Marta Herrero ,
Bernardo Moreno-Jiménez  and
Dirk van Dierendonck
Raquel Rodríguez-Carvajal*
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Sara de Rivas
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Marta Herrero
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Bernardo Moreno-Jiménez
Affiliation:
Universidad Autónoma de Madrid (Spain)
Dirk van Dierendonck
Affiliation:
Erasmus University Rotterdam (The Netherlands)
*
*Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Raquel Rodríguez-Carvajal. Room 35. Faculty of Psychology. Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Ivan Paulov, 6. 28049 Madrid (Spain). Phone: +34–914975122. Fax: +34–914976409. Email: raquel.rodriguez@uam.es
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Abstract

Servant Leadership emphasizes employee’s development and growth within a context of moral and social concern. Nowadays, this management change towards workers´ wellbeing is highlighted as an important issue. The aims of this paper are to adapt to Spanish speakers the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) by van Dierendonck and Nuijten (2011), and to analyze its factorial validity through confirmatory factor analysis and measurement invariance in three countries. A sample of 638 working people from three Spanish-speaking countries (Spain, Argentina and Mexico) participated in the study. In all three countries, confirmatory factor analyses corroborate the eight factor structure (empowerment, accountability, standing back, humility, authenticity, courage, forgiveness and stewardship) with one second order factor (servant leadership) (in all three samples, CFI, IFI > .92, TLI > .91, RMSEA < .70). Also, factor loadings, reliability and convergent validity were acceptable across samples. Furthermore, through measurement invariance analysis, we detected model equivalence in all three countries including structural residual invariance (ΔCFI = .001). Finally, cultural differences in some dimensions were found and discussed, opening the way for future cross-cultural studies.

Keywords

servant leadershipcross-culturalpositive organizational psychologymeasurement invariance analysis
Type
Research Article
Information
The Spanish Journal of Psychology , Volume 17 , 2014 , E63
Copyright
Copyright © Universidad Complutense de Madrid and Colegio Oficial de Psicólogos de Madrid 2014 

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