Servant Leadership and Theory of Mind
Presentation Type
Poster
Faculty Advisor
Laura Lakusta
Access Type
Event
Start Date
26-4-2024 2:15 PM
End Date
26-4-2024 3:15 PM
Description
Leadership is essential across various fields, and servant leadership, which focuses on others' needs, has been linked to organizational success. Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer others' mental states and is essential in psychology. Research on the relationship between ToM and leadership styles, especially servant leadership, is limited. Previous studies have touched on this relationship but lacked experimental evidence. Valente (2014) suggested that ToM aids servant leadership but provided no experimental support. Chen and Kacerek (2022) proposed that children's leadership abilities in play might reflect their ToM but called for further research. This study explored the connection between ToM and servant leadership using the Yoni ToM task and the Parolini Leadership Scale among 76 participants from the Montclair State University Psychology Research Subject Pool. The Yoni task assessed cognitive and affective ToM, while the Parolini Leadership Scale distinguished between transformational and servant leadership styles. Results showed significant positive correlations between servant leadership and cognitive and affective second-order ToM, revealing that leaders who better understand others' thoughts and feelings tend to be servant leaders. First-order ToM tasks, which are simpler, showed ceiling-level performances. This study implies that advanced ToM may contribute to servant leadership utilization. Such leaders can understand their followers' mental states, potentially predicting who may become a servant leader. Future research could confirm these findings and their implications for leadership development.
Servant Leadership and Theory of Mind
Leadership is essential across various fields, and servant leadership, which focuses on others' needs, has been linked to organizational success. Theory of Mind (ToM) is the ability to infer others' mental states and is essential in psychology. Research on the relationship between ToM and leadership styles, especially servant leadership, is limited. Previous studies have touched on this relationship but lacked experimental evidence. Valente (2014) suggested that ToM aids servant leadership but provided no experimental support. Chen and Kacerek (2022) proposed that children's leadership abilities in play might reflect their ToM but called for further research. This study explored the connection between ToM and servant leadership using the Yoni ToM task and the Parolini Leadership Scale among 76 participants from the Montclair State University Psychology Research Subject Pool. The Yoni task assessed cognitive and affective ToM, while the Parolini Leadership Scale distinguished between transformational and servant leadership styles. Results showed significant positive correlations between servant leadership and cognitive and affective second-order ToM, revealing that leaders who better understand others' thoughts and feelings tend to be servant leaders. First-order ToM tasks, which are simpler, showed ceiling-level performances. This study implies that advanced ToM may contribute to servant leadership utilization. Such leaders can understand their followers' mental states, potentially predicting who may become a servant leader. Future research could confirm these findings and their implications for leadership development.