Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland
Servant leadership is a philosophy of communication and leadership whith focus on decentralization, autonomy, mutual respect and commitment to society. In light of universities’ important societal role and importance of equality of academic staff it is presumed that servant leadership suits a univer...
Published in: | Veftímaritið Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla |
---|---|
Main Authors: | , |
Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
Language: | English Icelandic |
Published: |
University of Iceland
2014
|
Subjects: | |
Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2014.10.2.15 https://doaj.org/article/eac87180c68843188e40caa14fd56d7d |
id |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:eac87180c68843188e40caa14fd56d7d |
---|---|
record_format |
openpolar |
spelling |
ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:eac87180c68843188e40caa14fd56d7d 2023-05-15T16:45:50+02:00 Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland Guðjón Ingi Guðjónsson Sigrún Gunnarsdóttir 2014-12-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2014.10.2.15 https://doaj.org/article/eac87180c68843188e40caa14fd56d7d EN IS eng ice University of Iceland http://www.irpa.is/article/view/1604 https://doaj.org/toc/1670-6803 https://doaj.org/toc/1670-679X 1670-6803 1670-679X doi:10.13177/irpa.a.2014.10.2.15 https://doaj.org/article/eac87180c68843188e40caa14fd56d7d Stjórnmál og Stjórnsýsla, Vol 10, Iss 2, Pp 499-522 (2014) Þjónandi forysta háskólar Háskóli Íslands starfsánægja Political institutions and public administration (General) JF20-2112 Political science (General) JA1-92 article 2014 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2014.10.2.15 2022-12-31T09:03:19Z Servant leadership is a philosophy of communication and leadership whith focus on decentralization, autonomy, mutual respect and commitment to society. In light of universities’ important societal role and importance of equality of academic staff it is presumed that servant leadership suits a university. Prior research indicates the value of servant leadership for universities’ performance. The purpose of the study was to assess servant leadership in the University of Iceland and its correlation with staff job satisfaction using a new Dutch instrument (SLS) measuring participants’ attitudes to their next superior. A single item job satisfaction question was included. Results showed considerable practice of servant leadership or 4,19 (scale: 1-6) and the strongest servant leadership characteristic was stewardship, followed by forgiveness and empowerment. 82,6% of participants reported job satisfaction with significant positive correlation with servant leadership. The relatively high degree of servant leadership supports previous study of the uiniversity’s working environment but not recent American studies indicating universities’ a low degree of servant leadership. The degree of servant leadership in the University of Iceland was lower compared to grammar schools (6,46) and general hospital wards (4,33) but identical to hospital emergency care units (4,19). Significant positive correlation of servant leadership with job satisfaction, confirms similar relationships in US universities and in various institutions in Iceland. Results indicate the importance of servant leadership for employees’ job satisfaction, not least empowerment and courage, and this has the potential to support peer management, employee independence and social responsibility of the University of Iceland. Article in Journal/Newspaper Iceland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Háskóli Íslands ENVELOPE(-21.949,-21.949,64.141,64.141) Veftímaritið Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla 10 2 499 |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
op_collection_id |
ftdoajarticles |
language |
English Icelandic |
topic |
Þjónandi forysta háskólar Háskóli Íslands starfsánægja Political institutions and public administration (General) JF20-2112 Political science (General) JA1-92 |
spellingShingle |
Þjónandi forysta háskólar Háskóli Íslands starfsánægja Political institutions and public administration (General) JF20-2112 Political science (General) JA1-92 Guðjón Ingi Guðjónsson Sigrún Gunnarsdóttir Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland |
topic_facet |
Þjónandi forysta háskólar Háskóli Íslands starfsánægja Political institutions and public administration (General) JF20-2112 Political science (General) JA1-92 |
description |
Servant leadership is a philosophy of communication and leadership whith focus on decentralization, autonomy, mutual respect and commitment to society. In light of universities’ important societal role and importance of equality of academic staff it is presumed that servant leadership suits a university. Prior research indicates the value of servant leadership for universities’ performance. The purpose of the study was to assess servant leadership in the University of Iceland and its correlation with staff job satisfaction using a new Dutch instrument (SLS) measuring participants’ attitudes to their next superior. A single item job satisfaction question was included. Results showed considerable practice of servant leadership or 4,19 (scale: 1-6) and the strongest servant leadership characteristic was stewardship, followed by forgiveness and empowerment. 82,6% of participants reported job satisfaction with significant positive correlation with servant leadership. The relatively high degree of servant leadership supports previous study of the uiniversity’s working environment but not recent American studies indicating universities’ a low degree of servant leadership. The degree of servant leadership in the University of Iceland was lower compared to grammar schools (6,46) and general hospital wards (4,33) but identical to hospital emergency care units (4,19). Significant positive correlation of servant leadership with job satisfaction, confirms similar relationships in US universities and in various institutions in Iceland. Results indicate the importance of servant leadership for employees’ job satisfaction, not least empowerment and courage, and this has the potential to support peer management, employee independence and social responsibility of the University of Iceland. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Guðjón Ingi Guðjónsson Sigrún Gunnarsdóttir |
author_facet |
Guðjón Ingi Guðjónsson Sigrún Gunnarsdóttir |
author_sort |
Guðjón Ingi Guðjónsson |
title |
Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland |
title_short |
Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland |
title_full |
Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland |
title_fullStr |
Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland |
title_full_unstemmed |
Servant leadership and job satisfaction in the University of Iceland |
title_sort |
servant leadership and job satisfaction in the university of iceland |
publisher |
University of Iceland |
publishDate |
2014 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2014.10.2.15 https://doaj.org/article/eac87180c68843188e40caa14fd56d7d |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-21.949,-21.949,64.141,64.141) |
geographic |
Háskóli Íslands |
geographic_facet |
Háskóli Íslands |
genre |
Iceland |
genre_facet |
Iceland |
op_source |
Stjórnmál og Stjórnsýsla, Vol 10, Iss 2, Pp 499-522 (2014) |
op_relation |
http://www.irpa.is/article/view/1604 https://doaj.org/toc/1670-6803 https://doaj.org/toc/1670-679X 1670-6803 1670-679X doi:10.13177/irpa.a.2014.10.2.15 https://doaj.org/article/eac87180c68843188e40caa14fd56d7d |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.13177/irpa.a.2014.10.2.15 |
container_title |
Veftímaritið Stjórnmál og stjórnsýsla |
container_volume |
10 |
container_issue |
2 |
container_start_page |
499 |
_version_ |
1766035982600110080 |