Servant leadership and workplace loneliness: the roles of bonding social capital and proactive personality

Purpose This study seeks to examine the effect of servant leadership on workplace loneliness and to explore the mediating role of bonding social capital in this relationship. In addition, it also investigates the moderating role of proactive personality in the relationship between servant leadership and bonding social capital. Design/methodology/approach Survey data were obtained from 203 employees who were selected from three organizations based in Pakistan. Multiple regression analyses and the bootstrapping procedure were used to test the research hypotheses. Findings Results showed that bonding social capital fully mediated the relationship between servant leadership and workplace loneliness. Furthermore, it was found that proactive personality strengthened the direct effect of servant leadership on bonding social capital and also strengthened its indirect effect on workplace loneliness. Originality/value This study develops and tests a novel moderated mediation model, which sheds light on how and when servant leadership is most effective in reducing loneliness in the workplace.