The Relationship Between Servant Leadership Attributes / Behaviors and Congregant Commitment Among United Pentecostal Church International Churches

Research regarding servant leadership has grown and resulted in positive results supporting the potential benefits for organizations to adopt a servant leadership culture among leaders (Neubert et al., 2008; Walumbwa, Hartnell, and Oke, 2010). Most prior research has focused solely on the development of a working construct model (Barbuto and Wheeler, 2006; Dennis and Bocarnea, 2005; Ehrhart, 2004; Hunter, et al. 2013, Liden, Wayne, Zhao, and Henderson, 2008; Parolini, Patterson, and Winston, 2009; Sendjaya, Sarros, and Santor, 2008; van Dierendonck, 2011). Studies have also shown that there is a significant relationship between servant leadership attributes and behaviors with organizational commitment (Goh and Low, 2014; Hoch, Bommer, Dulebohn, and Wu, 2016; Irving and Berndt, 2017; Lapointe and Vandenberghe, 2015; Miao et al., 2014; Overstreet, Hazen, Skipper, and Hanna, 2014; Yavas, Jhu, and Babakus, 2015). However, a gap in prior literature is research concerning the relationship between servant leadership attributes among pastors and the relationship to organizational commitment applied to congregational members in a church setting. The purpose of this correlational study is to determine the relationship, if any, between servant leadership attributes and behaviors (Voluntary Subordination, Authentic Self, Covenantal Relationship, Transcendental Spirituality, Responsible Morality, Transforming Influence) and organizational commitment (Affective, Continuance, Normative) among church congregations in the United Pentecostal Churches in Tennessee.