The effect of servant leadership on job crafting, job satisfaction, and work engagement among doctors: the mediating role of person-job fit

Leadership has a significant impact on doctors’ job performance and motivation in the healthcare sector. Servant leadership is an approach that focuses on the needs of employees and provides support. Therefore, it can positively affect doctors’ person-job fit, job crafting, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Person-job fit is a critical factor in terms of an individual’s adaptation to work, and leadership style is expected to strengthen this fit. However, research on the effects of servant leadership on doctors and how this effect occurs through person-job fit is limited. This study aims to examine the effects of servant leadership on doctors’ job crafting, job satisfaction, and work engagement, as well as the mediating role of person-job fit in this relationship. Data obtained from 299 doctors working in Turkey during the October-December 2024 period using the survey method were analysed using SPSS and AMOS software. According to the analysis findings, doctors’ perceptions of servant leadership towards unit managers have a positive and significant effect on job crafting, job satisfaction, and job work engagement, and person-job fit plays a mediating role in this effect. In this context, servant leadership also has a positive and significant effect on person-job fit. This finding is considered an important factor contributing to the explanation of the mediating variable. In addition, it has been determined that employees’ levels of person-job fit have a positive and significant effect on job crafting, job satisfaction, and work engagement. This study has demonstrated that servant leadership has positive effects on doctors’ person-job fit, job crafting, job satisfaction, and work engagement. Furthermore, it was found that person-job fit plays a mediating role in this relationship, contributing to explaining the mechanisms that enhance the effects of servant leadership. The findings reveal that adopting a servant leadership approach in healthcare institutions can enhance doctors’ job fit, thereby strengthening their job satisfaction and engagement. This can make significant contributions to creating sustainable and healthy working environments.