EXAMINING SERVANT LEADERSHIP, ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT, AND ORGANIZATIONAL CITIZENSHIP BEHAVIOR IN ETHIOPIAN STATE UNIVERSITIES: AN EMPIRICAL INVESTIGATION

Abstract

This empirical investigation explores how servant leadership relates to organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) within five state-funded universities located in Southern Ethiopia. We used standardized survey questionnaires to collect responses from 384 faculty members using cross sectional quantitative technique. Statistical techniques like descriptive analysis, Pearson correlation and structural equation modeling were utilized to test our hypotheses. Our findings reveal that servant leadership demonstrates mean scores of 3.42 (SD=0.67), organizational commitment averages 3.38 (SD=0.71) while OCB records 3.51 (SD=0.64). The structural model indicates servant leadership significantly influences organizational commitment (β=0.58, p<0.001) and OCB (β=0.47, p<0.001). Additionally, organizational commitment functions as a partial mediator between servant leadership and OCB (indirect effect: β=0.22, 95% CI [0.16, 0.29]). Model fit statistics demonstrate acceptable values (χ²/df=2.34, CFI=0.94, TLI=0.93, RMSEA=0.059). These results indicate that cultivating servant leadership skills among university administrators may enhance faculty commitment and encourage voluntary activities that positively impact institutional performance.