Abstract

Servant leadership is an emerging model of leadership that goes beyond the popular construct of transformational leadership. Building on Fredrickson’s broaden and-build theory of emotion, we propose a cyclical model of positive affect where followers’ gratitude in response to SL will not only result in followers’ adaptive behaviors but will perpetuate SL behaviors. Followers’ experiences and reactions will in turn mediate the relationship between SL and organizational citizenship behaviors. In addition, we argue that followers’ reactions in the context of SL will be partly dependent on followers’ self-esteem and self-concept. In this manner, followers’ self-concept will moderate their affective experiences and reactions to SL.