Unit 4, Learning activity 4.4

Article

Servant leaders inspire servant followers: Antecedents and outcomes for employees and the organization

Quality Criteria

1.The study’s purpose is clearly specified.

Rate

2=Good

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The purpose statement does not contain any signal words such as “The purpose of the study is…”. Instead, it uses “There remains a need to better understand….” followed by “more research design and more explorations of… are necessary…”.

b) The authors use four paragraphs with four main topics to interpret and support the purpose statement, and the independent variables, dependent variable, participants, framework, and intent.

Quality Criteria

2. The focus of the study is appropriate.

Rate

2=Good

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The focus of the study is set of major variables (such as leader agreeableness, leader extraversion, the follower perceptions) that are clearly identified and worthy of study, especially the leader agreeableness and leader extraversion.

b) The variables are clearly grouped into five categories including independent variables (leader personality and values, individual-level servant leadership, store-level servant leadership), dependent variables (follower perceptions of servant leadership, follower needs and well-being, sales behaviour and store sales performance), and control variables (the mediating role of service climate).

c) I failed to find the relevant confounding variables in the study.

Quality Criteria

3. The overall intent of the study is appropriate.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The overall intent of the study is to explain, describe, and predict the major variables.

b) The intent is illustrated in 10 precise hypotheses, and demonstrates what is to be learned about the identified variables

Quality Criteria

4. The participants and sites are appropriate.

Rate

2=Good

Evidence and/or Reasoning

The participants (followers, managers, leaders) and the sites (stores) are clearly identified and clearly fit the study’s intent. The precise information of the participants and sites are presented in the method part.

Quality Criteria

5. The purpose is narrowed through appropriate research questions and/or hypothesis.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

The authors present 10 hypotheses that clearly address the purpose of the study and exactly examine the relationships among the variables. The predictions about the relationships are demonstrated thoroughly based on the literature.

Quality Criteria

6. The purpose follows logically from the statement of the problem and literature review.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) Reasons for the study’s intent, theory, participants and sites are well argued after the purpose statement and precisely analyzed through four paragraphs with a figure which helps better understand the whole study’s intent.

b) The purpose and the hypotheses clearly build from extensive knowledge, address an important problem. They will make up the deficiencies of the existing knowledge because no study has investigated the personality of the servant leader.

Quality Criteria

7. The purpose is consistent with the study’s overall approach.

Rate

3=Excellent

Evidence and/or Reasoning

a) The purpose and the hypotheses are narrow and specific.

b) The purpose and the hypotheses are based on high-quality literature and applicable theories.

c) The purpose and the hypotheses are clearly aimed at describing the relationships among variables, and at describing the differences between groups.

Total Score = 18 (17-21 = High quality)

Reference

Hunter, E. M., Neubert, M. J., Perry, S. J., Witt, L. A., Penny, L. M., & Weinberger, E. (2013). Servant leaders inspire servant followers: Antecedents and outcomes for employees and the organization. Leadership Quarterly, 24(2), 316-331.

Plano-Clark, V., & Creswell, J. (2015). Understanding research: A consumer’s guide (2nd ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson.

Unit 4 Learning Activities