How does servant leadership affect the job satisfaction of tourism employees? The mediating role of psychological capital.
- 1School of Business, Anhui Xinhua University, Hefei, China.
Abstract
Introduction
In the service-intensive tourism industry, employee wellbeing is a critical determinant of service quality and organizational performance. Drawing on Positive Organizational Behavior and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study examines the mechanism linking perceived servant leadership to job satisfaction among tourism employees, specifically investigating the mediating role of psychological capital.Design/methodology/approach
Empirical data were collected via an anonymous questionnaire survey of 200 frontline employees from tourism enterprises (travel agencies, scenic spots, and hotels). Hierarchical regression analysis and Bootstrap mediation analysis were employed to test the hypotheses.Findings
The results indicate that: (1) Perceived servant leadership is significantly positively associated with job satisfaction (p < 0.001); (2) Employee-perceived servant leadership is significantly positively associated with employees' psychological capital; and (3) Psychological capital partially mediates the relationship between employee-perceived servant leadership and job satisfaction.Originality/value
These findings extend the theoretical understanding of leadership and wellbeing in the tourism context and offer practical insights for fostering a sustainable workforce through leadership development.
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BibTeX
@article{zhu2026does,
title = {{How does servant leadership affect the job satisfaction of tourism employees? The mediating role of psychological capital.}},
author = {Ziwei Zhu},
journal = {Frontiers in psychology},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1956847},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908525},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - How does servant leadership affect the job satisfaction of tourism employees? The mediating role of psychological capital.
AU - Ziwei Zhu
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/07
JO - Frontiers in psychology
DO - 10.3389/fpsyg.2026.1956847
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42908525
AB - Introduction In the service-intensive tourism industry, employee wellbeing is a critical determinant of service quality and organizational performance. Drawing on Positive Organizational Behavior and Conservation of Resources (COR) theory, this study examines the mechanism linking perceived servant leadership to job satisfaction among tourism employees, specifically investigating the mediating role of psychological capital.Design/methodology/approach Empirical data were collected via an anonymous questionnaire survey of 200 frontline employees from tourism enterprises (travel agencies, scenic spots, and hotels). Hierarchical regression analysis and Bootstrap mediation analysis were employed to test the hypotheses.Findings The results indicate that: (1) Perceived servant leadership is significantly positively associated with job satisfaction (p < 0.001); (2) Employee-perceived servant leadership is significantly positively associated with employees' psychological capital; and (3) Psychological capital partially mediates the relationship between employee-perceived servant leadership and job satisfaction.Originality/value These findings extend the theoretical understanding of leadership and wellbeing in the tourism context and offer practical insights for fostering a sustainable workforce through leadership development.
SN - 1664-1078
ER -