Servant leadership style and socially responsible leadership in university context: moderation of promoting sense of community

Purpose

The purpose of this study is to examine the extent to which promoting sense of community moderates the relationship between servant leadership style and socially responsible leadership (SRL) of public universities in Uganda.

Design/methodology/approach

The study adopted cross-sectional survey design to collect data at one point in time using self-administered questionnaires from 214 respondents to examine the relationship between servant leadership and socially responsible leadership with promoting sense of community as a moderator. The study used statistical package for social scientists (SPSS) PROCESS MACRO to establish clusters among the surveyed public universities and later a model was derived.

Findings

The study found a significant moderating effect of promoting sense of community on servant leadership and socially responsible leadership. Implying that investment in promoting sense of community creates awareness about the socially responsible leadership in public universities.

Practical implications

Managers of public universities need to pay keen interest in promoting sense of community to boost socially responsible leadership by building a strong servant leadership style through promoting sense of community for senior managers and leaders especially heads of departments, faculty deans and principals in public universities.

Originality/value

This study contributes to socially responsible leadership literature by advancing the idea that SRL is an important resource that enhances through instituting servant leadership and promoting sense of community in a complex environment. Ideally, servant leadership and promoting sense of community is one of the drivers of customer value, efficiency and effectiveness of public universities.