The effect of servant leadership on work-family conflict and work-family positive spillover: The role of prosocial motivation

Today, since the rapid changes and developments in the field of globalization, technology and communication affect employees and their business lives significantly, leaders have great duties. It is an undeniable fact that employees' perceptions of their leaders have an impact on business life and organizational outcomes, work-family areas and interactions. In this respect, servant leadership, which includes all leadership models and makes people the focal point, is one of the important factors in the success of the organization and in increasing these successes. Individual's work and family order have an irreplaceable importance in a person's life. In this context, the fictional logic of the study is based on the question of how the prosocial motivation role of an individual who shows servant leadership behavior can have a mediating effect in the formation of conflict that occurs as a result of family problems originating from workplace or in the formation of positive spillover that occurs through knowledge, skills and experiences, gained in business life, which contribute to family life positively. Quantitative research method was used in the current study. The data were collected through an online survey using convenient and purposive sampling method between October/2020 and July/2021. The sample of the study consists of 473 teachers working in schools, located in the city center of Osmaniye, affiliated to Provincial Directorate of National Education. The data obtained within the scope of the study were analyzed using the bootstrap technique to determine the significance of the confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling and mediation model through SPSS, AMOS and Process Macro statistical programs. According to the obtained findings, while servant leadership affected work-family conflict significantly and negatively, it affected work-family positive spillover and prosocial motivation significantly and positively. There was no mediating effect of prosocial motivation in the relationship between servant leadership and work-family conflict. On the other hand, it was revealed that prosocial motivation had a mediating effect in the relationship between servant leadership and work-family positive spillover. In the current study, servant leadership, work-family conflict, work-family positive spillover and prosocial motivation were examined together and the mediating effect of prosocial motivation was examined. It is anticipated that this mediating effect, which is determined for the first time, will contribute to the relevant literature and practitioners as an important finding of the study. Keywords: Servant leadership, work-family conflict, work-family positive spillover, prosocial motivation.