Leadership signals matter. This paper develops a signalling perspective on servant leadership, explaining how followers interpret leader behaviours and come to view leaders as servant leaders.
The authors show that costly, observable leader behaviours can serve as credible signals of servant leadership, while follower characteristics and contextual factors shape how those signals are received and interpreted. The study offers new insights into the mechanisms through which servant leadership perceptions emerge and develop.
Authors and affiliations:
• Nathan Eva (Monash Business School)
• Emily M. Hunter (Baylor University)
• Mitchell J. Neubert (Baylor University)
• Matthew Wood (The University of Oklahoma)
