Cultivating Community Citizenship Behaviour among Hospitality Employees Through Servant Leadership: Roles of Public Service Motivation and Leader-Follower Value Congruence

Employees’ community citizenship behaviour is a significant factor in shaping an organisation's socially responsible image. However, existing theoretical accounts could be further strengthened by identifying effective mechanisms and strategies to improve community citizenship behaviour among employees. Employing social learning theory, this research examines the relationship of servant leadership with employees’ community citizenship behaviour potentially induced through their public service motivation and the moderating role of leader-follower value congruence. Hypotheses were tested in a sample of 497 employees working in 103 teams across 36 hotels at popular tourist destinations in China, using multilevel structural equation modelling to analyse data collected across three waves. Findings show that public service motivation mediates the positive relationship between servant leadership and community citizenship behaviour within the sampled setting, and that leader-follower value congruence enhances the impact of servant leadership on employees’ public service motivation and the resulting community citizenship behaviour. Theoretical insights and practical implications are provided for managers in service-intensive settings similar to this study's context.