Employees’ belief restoration in a crisis context: the role of servant leadership, workplace spirituality, and proactive personality

Abstract

There is insufficient empirical evidence to support the critical role of employee’s belief restoration during significant crises. The aim of this study is to derive a model of how servant leadership affects employees’ belief restoration during a crisis, using workplace spirituality and proactive personalities as mediators. For the purposes of this research, partial least squares structural equation modelling (PLS-SEM) was conducted on a sample of 315 employees of aviation service providers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The results revealed positive nexuses between servant leadership and workplace spirituality as well as proactive personality. However, the direct effect of servant leadership on employees’ belief restoration was not supported. The findings further demonstrated positive relationships between workplace spirituality and employees’ belief restoration, as well as between employees’ proactive personalities and their belief restoration. The study also found that the link between servant leadership and belief restoration is significantly and positively mediated by workplace spirituality and employee proactivity.