How mentors inspire affective commitment in newcomers: The roles of servant leadership, psychological capital, and feedback-seeking behavior

This study investigated the impacts of the dual roles of servant-leadership and mentoring on hotel new employees' affective commitment. Guided by self-determination theory, an integrated model proposed the associations between servant mentors and employees' affective commitment mediated via psychological capital. The model also hypothesized the moderating effect of employees' feedback-seeking behavior on the relationship between mentors' servant leadership and employees' psychological capital. Three hundred and seventy new employees at thirteen hotels in five regions of China provided responses during a time lag of ten weeks. The data was analyzed by Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) and a series of Moderated Hierarchical Regression (MHR). The results indicated that mentors' servant leadership had a direct positive effect on hotel new employees' psychological capital and affective commitment, and indirectly predicted affective commitment via psychological capital. Moreover, feedback-seeking behavior could enhance the relationship between mentors' servant leadership and employees' psychological capital. The findings extend knowledge of understanding mentoring and servant leadership in the hospitality organizations, and imply the effective ways to improve hotel newcomers management.