IMPACTS OF FEMALE SERVANT LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT: A CASE OF EMPLOYEES IN PRIVATE HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS IN ZHENGZHOU, HENAN, CHINA
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.14456/aamr.2025.10Keywords:
Employee Engagement, Female Leader, Leadership CompetencyAbstract
This study examines the impact of female servant leadership characteristics on leadership competency, to study the impact of female leadership competency on employee engagement, and to study the impacts of female servant leadership characteristics on employee engagement. The study is a mixed method research design composed of quantitative and a main study and qualitative research to confirm the results—the semi-structured questionnaire collected data from 422 employees in private higher education institutions in Zhengzhou, China. Descriptive statistics and multiple regression were used to analyze variables and test hypotheses, while content analysis was employed to analyze qualitative data and confirm the results of the quantitative analysis. The results from the study revealed that female leaders with servant leadership styles were most interested in employees’ career progress at a very high level. Regarding female leadership competency, the results indicated that female leaders represented building relationship dimension the most at a very high level, and the results indicated that under female servant leadership, the employees presented emotional engagement the most. The results from multiple regression analysis revealed that female leaders with servant leadership characteristics had a significant positive impact on leadership competency in private higher education institutions. Leadership competency significantly mediated the relationship between female servant leadership and employee engagement. Finally, female leaders with servant leadership characteristics significantly positively impacted employee engagement.
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