An Examination of the Relationship Between the Five Dimensions of Courageous Followership and Servant Leadership Within the U.S. Air Force
An Examination of the Relationship Between the Five Dimensions of Courageous Followership and Servant Leadership Within the U.S. Air Force
Bradley Green | 2018
Abstract
The purpose of this research was to determine if there was a positive and significant relationship between the five dimensions of courageous followership and servant leadership. Based on an extensive review of the literature, it was determined that there had not been an empirical study to date that attempted to determine the correlation between courageous followership and a definition of servant leadership that included the construct of service. This study fills this gap in the literature by surveying participants to indicate their perceptions of their followership behaviors and their perceptions of the servant leadership behaviors of their leaders. The Followership Profile was used to measure followership behaviors, and the Essential Servant Leadership Behaviors Scale was used to measure one-dimensional servant leadership. The data were collected from military members who serve in one of the three components of the U.S. Air Force; data were analyzed with SPSS 24 software. A Pearson product-moment correlation was performed to determine if there was a significant relationship between the five dimensions of courageous followership and servant leadership. The findings from this study substantiated the assertion that there was a positive and significant relationship between the overall model of courageous followership and servant leadership. In addition, two of the five dimensions were positively and significantly correlated to one-dimensional servant leadership. This is the first study to find a correlation between courageous followership and one-dimensional servant leadership. This finding lays the groundwork for future studies. It is likely that the nature of the relationship is reciprocal with servant leaders causing courageous followership behaviors in their followers and courageous followers causing servant leadership behaviors in their leaders.