A research on servant leadership, psychological empowerment and innovative behavior relations

In recent years, in private enterprises and public institutions in different cultures, based on ethical values, employees are encouraged to act innovatively and psychologically empower themselves within the framework of the concept of servant leadership. Servant leadership, which has been theorized on an ethical basis, has begun to gain importance in private companies and businesses. Considering the ethical framework, servant leadership has emerged as a model that started with the desire to serve, then aimed to manage and develop others, and as a result, aiming to reach a higher purpose for the benefit of individuals and organizations. It is frequently stated in the literature that servant leadership develops organizational citizenship behavior at the individual level, helps employees stay psychologically strong, and motivates innovative behaviors. Quantitative research method was used in this study. Three separate scales consisting of 42 items in total were used in the study. Servant Leadership scale, Psychological Empowerment scale and Innovative Behavior scales were used in the study. The data were collected from 414 bank employees representing 11.8 percent among 3484 people working in 220 branches of 23 banks in Adana in December/2021. The data obtained within the framework of the research were analyzed with SPSS and AMOS 23 Package program. In order to test the research hypotheses, structural equation model, process macro (öodel 4), t-test and ANOVA analyzes were performed. As a result of the analyses, it was found that servant leadership had a significant positive effect on personnel empowerment and innovative behavior. It was found that staff empowerment had a significant positive effect on innovative behavior. As a result of the mediation test, it was identified that staff empowerment had a high mediating effect on the effect of servant leadership on innovative behavior. As a result of the t test, it was found that innovative behavior differed significantly by gender. As a result of Anova test, it was found that innovative behavior differed significantly according to age, and personnel empowerment differs significantly according to educational status. Based on these findings, it was discussed by comparing it with other findings in the related literature, and suggestions were made about what might be done in private business and public institutions in the future.