Senior Pastor Servant Leadership, Leader Likability, and Church Attender Outcomes

Senior Pastor Servant Leadership, Leader Likability, and Church Attender Outcomes

Kelli S. Heinz | 2018

Abstract

The purpose of this quantitative study was to investigate the relationship between senior pastor servant leadership behavior, senior pastor leader likability, and church attender organizational commitment, attendance, volunteerism, and giving. A sample of 329 active church attenders recruited from Facebook completed the survey. Analyzing the data using hierarchical multiple regression, the findings demonstrated that senior pastor leader likability predicted church attender organizational commitment (H1), church attender attendance (H2), and church attender volunteerism (H3) but did not predict church attender giving (H4). The findings also indicated that senior pastor servant leadership behavior independent of senior pastor leader likability predicted church attender organizational commitment (H5) and church attender giving (H8) but did not predict church attender attendance (H6) or church attender volunteerism (H7). The findings have implications for researchers in that the study expands the theory of servant leadership and leadership theory in general while introducing leader likability as a competing explanation for church attender outcomes. The findings have practical implications for church leaders and practitioners given the strong relationship between servant leadership, leader likability, and church attender outcomes.