Can Mindfulness be an Alternative for Servant Leadership? A Well-being Perspective

Servant leaders go beyond their self-centeredness and genuinely work toward strengthening the well-being (WB) of their followers. However, organizations cannot solely rely on servant leaders to stimulate the WB of their workforce as numerous factors affect servant leadership (SL), which may hinder its successful implementation in the workplace. Therefore, it is essential to determine to what extent an individual trait such as mindfulness can compensate for this leadership. Being focused, optimistic, and present in the moment fosters the WB of a person, which may reduce their reliance on external leadership. Thus, by relying on the “substitutes for leadership theory,” this study examines the moderating role of mindfulness in the SL and WB relationship. The data were collected from the 265 Indian service sector employees and were analyzed using the SPSS-20 and AMOS-21 software. The study’s results revealed that SL and mindfulness were significantly related to employee WB. Moreover, employees’ mindfulness moderates the SL and WB relationship. Also, mindfulness partly substitutes for a low level of SL in the workplace. Hence, by organizing meditation and yoga sessions in the organizations, employees’ mindfulness can be enhanced which reduce the reliance on the leadership style of the managers.