Expanding service beyond the organizational boundaries: moderated mediated model of servant leadership to affect employees’ community citizenship behavior

Purpose The purpose of this study is to understand how servant leadership affects employees’ community citizenship behavior by transforming their servant identity. Additionally, the study explicated whether the relationship between servant leadership and employees’ servant identity is contingent on leader–follower value congruence. Design/methodology/approach For this study data was collected from 468 employees working in the service industry in three waves which were undertaken with a lag of one month. The collected data was analyzed through structural equation modeling. Findings The results revealed that servant leadership is related to employees’ servant identity. The findings also substantiated the relationship between employees’ servant identity and their community citizenship behavior. The mediating role of servant identity linking servant leadership to employees’ community citizenship behavior was confirmed. Finally, leader–follower value congruence was found to moderate the relationship between servant leadership and employees’ servant identity. Originality/value The study is the first to ascertain the mediating role of servant identity linking servant leadership to employees’ community citizenship behavior. It is also the first study to ascertain that the effect of servant leadership on employees’ servant identity is contingent upon leader–follower value congruence.