Servant leadership: Bridging the gap between research and practice

Leadership models come and go, but servant leadership promises remarkable staying power. While the concept has been practiced informally for centuries, it wasn’t formally named until the 1970s when Robert Greenleaf coined the term. Since then, companies have embraced it, with businesses like Southwest Airlines and Starbucks citing it as a guiding philosophy.

Yet, for much of its existence, servant leadership remained a practitioner-driven movement rather than a rigorously studied academic field. That’s changing. Scholars are now validating what many leaders have long understood: putting people first leads to stronger, more resilient organizations.

At Central Michigan University’s College of Business Administration, faculty member Jarvis Smallfield is working to bridge the gap between research and practice, ensuring that the study of servant leadership continues to evolve in ways that directly benefit businesses and students.

An established idea with growing academic validation

Servant leadership is not a new concept, it has existed in various forms for thousands of years. However, Greenleaf’s 1970 essay, "The Servant as Leader," gave the philosophy a modern identity. "Greenleaf’s conceptualization was that someone first seeks to serve, and then adopts leadership as a mechanism to do that," says Smallfield. "His work framed leadership as putting the needs of followers before one’s own interests or even the immediate goals of an organization."

Many companies practiced elements of servant leadership long before Greenleaf’s writings, but it wasn’t until the late 1990s and 2000s that scholars began systematically studying its impact. Researchers developed measurement scales to validate its benefits, and by the mid-2000s, servant leadership had become an area of serious academic study.

"One of Greenleaf’s biggest predictions was that servant leaders don’t just lead effectively, they create more servant leaders," says Smallfield. "When done right, this leadership style strengthens organizations in ways that other models don’t."

Despite these advancements, servant leadership research has historically lagged its real-world adoption. Many businesses embraced it on intuition and experience, rather than academic validation. That’s where researchers like Smallfield come in, refining definitions, developing better measurement tools, and making the research more accessible to practitioners.

Bridging the gap between research and practice

While servant leadership has been widely implemented in organizations, academic and business communities have often operated in separate spaces. This gap was one of the driving forces behind the Servant Leadership Scholars Conference, co-organized by Smallfield, Jim Lamoine (University of Buffalo), Nathan Eva (Monash Univeristy), and Chad Hartnell (Georgia State University). Held in October 2024 at the Milwaukee School of Engineering, the conference brought together researchers and practitioners to advance the field of servant leadership

"Our goal was threefold," says Smallfield. "First, we wanted to refine servant leadership research by addressing gaps in how we define and measure it. Second, we aimed to develop junior scholars in the field. And third, we needed to build stronger connections between academics and business practitioners."

For many years, practitioners championed servant leadership in corporate settings, but their work didn’t always intersect with academic research. "Most practitioners don’t read academic journals," acknowledges Smallfield. "For the longest time, academics and practitioners were largely working in separate spaces. That’s changing now, and this conference was a big step toward strengthening those connections."

The conference precedes a complementary special issue in Group & Organization Management, featuring a discussion between Bob Liden, a leading scholar in servant leadership, and Dan Van Knippenberg, a critic of other leadership models like transformational leadership. The issue will also include an article by Ian MacFarlane, president and CEO of EA Engineering, Science, and Technology, Inc., PBC, outlining what practitioners need from researchers.

"This is the kind of dialogue we need to keep the field moving forward," says Smallfield.

How businesses—and students—benefit from servant leadership

Servant leadership’s impact is clear: organizations that adopt it often see stronger employee engagement, better retention, and a culture of trust. But how can students identify whether a company truly embodies servant leadership?

Smallfield’s advice to students is to be observant. "When you go to an interview, pay attention to how the receptionist is treated. Look at how employees at all levels interact. Are they respected? That will tell you a lot about the company’s leadership culture."

He points to an example within CMU’s own management department, where faculty culture reflects these values. "When I was hired, I had to go back to my hotel room and look up who was tenure-track and who was fixed-term because you couldn’t tell based on how people were treated," he says. "That’s a sign of a workplace where respect and collaboration matter more than hierarchy."

What’s next for servant leadership research?

The field of servant leadership research continues to evolve. Following the success of the Servant Leadership Scholars Conference, discussions are underway to make it a recurring event, possibly expanding internationally.

Meanwhile, research on servant leadership is tackling new and practical challenges. Smallfield is leading studies on:

• How digital career development systems interact with servant leadership – "Interestingly, our data suggests that structured career development tools are most beneficial when leadership is lacking in servant leadership qualities," he notes. "It appears to fill in some of the gaps left by less people-focused leadership styles."
• How individuals develop a servant leadership identity – "If we can measure and understand this process, companies can create better leadership training programs."

These studies will help organizations design better leadership development initiatives, ensuring that servant leadership continues to be more than just a philosophy—it becomes an embedded practice with measurable outcomes.

A call to future business leaders

For CMU students, understanding servant leadership isn’t just an academic exercise, it’s a valuable framework for building a successful career. As CMU continues to foster research that connects theory with practice, faculty like Smallfield are ensuring that servant leadership remains a powerful tool for businesses, students, and future leaders alike.

For those interested in diving deeper into the philosophy and application of servant leadership, Robert Greenleaf’s book, Servant Leadership: A Journey into the Nature of Legitimate Power and Greatness, is an essential starting point. The Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership also offers a wealth of resources for those looking to explore how these principles can shape their careers and organizations.

Have questions or want to learn more? Smallfield welcomes conversations on servant leadership and its impact. Reach out to him via email to continue the discussion.