Title: Servant and sustainable leadership: an analysis in the manufacturing environment

Authors: Jack T. McCann, Roger A. Holt

Addresses: School of Business, Lincoln Memorial University, 6965 Cumberland Gap Parkway, Harrogate, TN, USA. ' 800 Cape Norris Road, New Tazewell, TN 37825-2414, USA

Abstract: Servant and sustainable leadership have emerged as important topics in light of the current economic turmoil. This research examined the levels of servant and sustainable leadership as perceived by all employees of selected manufacturing organisations and examined the relationship between servant leadership and sustainable leadership in a combined survey instrument. The study included four manufacturing companies in the USA. A Servant Leadership Questionnaire (SLQ) revealed that employees perceived their leaders to utilise the dimensions of servant leadership at levels similar to the seminal research of Barbuto and Wheeler (2006). The second part of the study examined sustainable leadership using the Sustainability Leadership Questionnaire created by the authors. Sustainable leadership dimensions were identified and a baseline was established for future research. The relationship between servant and sustainable leadership was examined using the correlations that compared each question within the instrument.

Keywords: servant leadership; sustainable leadership; sustainable development; corporate sustainability; questionnaire; management learning; change management; unsustainability; durable leadership; manufacturing industry; USA; United States.

DOI: 10.1504/IJMP.2010.033691

International Journal of Management Practice, 2010 Vol.4 No.2, pp.134 - 148

Published online: 17 Jun 2010 *

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