Dear Friends and Colleagues,
The four-year study on self-transcendence and servant leadership has been completed. The results, although positive, showed that we as an organization have work to do. In the coming blog posts, I will write about the results and the implications of those results for our organization. Today, I post the abstract. Next week, we will discuss the research questions that guided the study and the findings of those questions. Feel free to comment. Happy reading!
Abstract
Researchers who specialize in the area of self-transcendence and servant leadership behavior have concluded that the presence of servant leadership behavior and spirituality may be essential in creating adaptive and successful organizations. Given the demand and concern for ethical, moral, and spiritual leaders’ consciousness of others and the greater world community, interest in self-transcendence and servant leadership behavior has grown substantially. A limited body of evidence exists regarding the ways in which self-identified spiritual leaders implement servant leadership behavior in the spiritual, and organizational setting. Gaining additional information on the ways in which self-identified servant leaders and spirituality apply in organizations is valuable to enable organizations to meet the challenges of the 21st century.
In this research, the purpose of this study was to examine whether a relationship existed between the variables of self-transcendence and perceived servant leader behaviors among senior leaders and their followers at New Thought Spiritual Centers in the United States. This study sought to examine whether a leader’s self-transcendence as measured by the Assessment of Spirituality of Religious Sentiments Scale (ASPIRES), correlates with being recognized as a servant leader among one’s followers as measured by the Servant Leadership Behavior Scale (SLBS).
The conclusions extrapolated from research question 1 suggested there was a significant positive correlation between self-transcendence and servant leadership behavior. The findings for research question 2 suggested partial support for leaders’ self-assessed self-transcendence and self-assessed servant leadership behavior.
The highest scores for leaders reported from the ASPIRES scale were the subscales of Prayer Fulfillment, and less high among the subscales Universality and Connectedness.
