Learning Activity 4.4

For this learning activity, I decided to change articles and focus on Parris and Peachy’s (2013) article A Systematic Literature Review of Servant Leadership Theory in Organizational Contexts. I decided to focus on a different article than the one I chose for learning activities 4.2 and 4.3 because Sendjaya and Sarro’s article was not a empirical study on this topic.

1. Is the study’s purpose clearly specified?
   Rating: 2/3
   Yes, the purpose is stated in the abstract and introduction (Parris & Peachy, 2013, p. 377). However, it took a little more reading into the methods and conclusion to really understand the entire purpose of this study.
2. Is the focus of the study appropriate?
   Rating: 3/3
   The authors ask the questions “how does servant leadership work, and how can we apply it” (Parris & Peachy, 2013, p. 377). It is clearly stated and focused on servant leadership.
3. Is the overall intent of the study appropriate?
   Rating: 3/3
   Yes, the overall intent of the study is appropriate. The authors explore what other experts and researchers have found on the topic of servant leadership and to see if there are universal themes or beliefs regarding this topic’s definition, methodology, and application (Parris & Peachy, 2013).
4. Are the participants and the sites appropriate?
   Rating: 3/3
   Yes, the participants of this study were 39 empirical studies on servant leadership (Parris & Peachy, 2013, p. 381). The researchers went through many several screenings in order to narrow an excess for 380 articles down to 39 (Parris & Peachy, 2013, p. 381).
5. Is the purpose of the study narrowed through appropriate research questions and/or hypotheses?
   Rating: 2/3
   The purpose of the study is quite broad. The researchers want to find universal definition for servant leadership and find overarching themes for methods and applications of servant leadership (Parris & Peachy, 2013).
6. Does the purpose of the study follow logically from the statement of the problem and the literature review?
   Rating: 3/3
   Yes, the researchers are very thorough in stating the existing knowledge and addressing the problem with the current non-standardized approach to definitions and methods of servant leadership (Parris & Peachy, 2013). Parris and Peachy (2013) want to research whether there is a synonymous definition of servant leadership and how it is applied in practical settings.
7. Is the purpose consistent with the study’s overall approach?
   Rating: 3/3
   Yes, the authors use systematic literature review to collect empirical data for a topic that currently has a lack of empirical research (Parris & Peachy, 2013). Parris and Peachy (2013) discuss previous knowledge on the topic and identify open and open-ended questions for research.

References

Parris, D.L. & Peachy, J.W. (2013). A Systematic Literature Review of Servant Leadership Theory in Organizational Contexts. Journal Of Business Ethics, (3), 377. doi:10.1007/s10551-012-1322-6

Sendjaya, S., & Sarros, J. C. (2002). Servant leadership: Its origin, development, and application in organizations. Journal of Leadership and Organization Studies, 9(2), 57-64.

Original assignment post found here.