Servant leadership, diversity climate, and organisational citizenship behaviour at a selection of South African companies

Abstract

The study examined the mediation effect of diversity climate on the relationship between servant leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour (OCB). Participants were a convenience sample of 262 employees from South African financial, industrial, manufacturing, and retail sectors (male = 52.9%; white = 69.3%; postgraduate university degree holders = 35.4%). The employees completed measures for servant leadership, diversity climate, and OCB. Simple mediation model analysis using PROCESS indicated servant leadership to improve employees’ perceptions of diversity climate and OCB. Perceived servant leadership demonstrated a significant indirect effect on employees’ OCB through diversity climate. We conclude that servant leadership symbolises an ethical component that would improve employees’ OCB through a conducive diversity climate.