Evaluation of a Servant Leadership Intervention

abstract

The aim of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a servant leadership development intervention. A one-group pre-test and post-test experimental design was applied to evaluate servant leadership behavior before and after a servant leadership intervention. A sample of 44 managers was drawn from a construction company in South Africa. The results showed that the servant leadership intervention significantly enhanced servant leadership behavior, particularly in terms of empowerment, stewardship, and forgiveness. Managers who participated in the servant leadership intervention exhibited more servant leadership behavior after the intervention, specifically in terms of empowerment, stewardship, and forgiveness. However, humility, courage, authenticity, standing back, and accountability appeared to remain stable, with no observed changes. The findings highlighted that servant leadership competencies, such as empowerment, stewardship, and forgiveness, could be enhanced by short-term and one-time interventions, whereas servant leadership traits, such as humility, courage, authenticity, standing back, and accountability, may require more continuous and alternative intervention approaches over the long term to improve. The servant leadership intervention evaluated in this study can be used as an effective method to enhance servant leadership behavior and cultivate servant leadership cultures within organizations. In return, organizations can benefit from the favorable individual and organizational outcomes that servant leadership offers. As one of the preliminary validation studies of a servant leadership intervention, this study makes a theoretical contribution to the existing body of knowledge on servant leadership by presenting empirical evidence that servant leadership behavior can be cultivated through targeted interventions. The findings endorse the theoretical premise that servant leadership is not exclusively a trait-based theory, but that it can be fostered through experiential and organizational development initiatives. © 2025 by the authors.