The Effect of Servant Leadership Style on Employee Trust: A Lebanese Context

Abstract

The research aims to answer how servant leadership behaviors contribute to building trust among employees and identify which leadership practices have the strongest impact. The paper focuses on the leadership dimensions of listening, empathy, and supportiveness and their influence on the trust dimensions of transparency, reliability, and fairness. A quantitative research design was employed, using a structured survey distributed to 153 employees across five small and medium Lebanese organizations. Data were analyzed using SPSS, including correlation analysis to determine the relationships between leadership behaviors and employee trust. The findings indicate that servant leadership has a statistically significant and positive effect on employee trust. Among the leadership dimensions, supportiveness emerged as the most influential factor, particularly in enhancing transparency and reliability, while listening had the strongest impact on fairness. Empathy also contributed positively, though its effect was lower than that of other dimensions. These results suggest that servant leaders who actively support, listen to, and empathize with employees can foster a work environment characterized by trust, fairness, and reliability.

The study has important implications for human resource (HR) managers and organizations, highlighting the need to develop servant leadership behaviors through recruitment, training, performance management, and health and well-being initiatives. Future research should explore broader organizational contexts, long-term effects, and the impact on employee well-being, health, and workplace outcomes.