Servant Leadership as a Driver of Work Engagement: Unveiling the Mediating Role of Basic Psychological Needs Satisfaction

Abstract

This study examines the intervening mechanism of basic psychological needs fulfillment (autonomy, competence, and relatedness) to understand how servant leadership could be associated with work engagement among the employees of pharmaceutical companies in Pakistan. Building upon self-determination theory, it explores how servant leadership creates an environment in an organization to fulfill the employees' psychological needs and resultantly enhance their engagement with work. A cross-sectional quantitative design was adopted in this study. The survey data were self-administered among 271 managerial and non-managerial employees in pharmaceutical organizations in Lahore. SPSS was also used for preliminary data analysis and Hayes’ PROCESS macro was used for hypotheses testing. The results confirm the mediation of basic psychological needs satisfaction between the positive association of servant leadership and work engagement. This research found that psychological needs satisfaction drives the employees' work engagement and is positively affected by servant leadership. This shows the crucial role of servant leaders in fostering a work culture where the needs of employees are catered to, and the people are valued for their independence and motivation. This study adds to the growing body of evidence on leadership styles and employee engagement by highlighting the specific value of servant leadership in improving workplace outcomes. It also offers some practical lessons for organizational leaders on how to adopt a people-centered approach to promote a motivated and high-performance workforce. Limitations and directions for future research, including the need for longitudinal studies and exploration in other sectors, are discussed.