Does Servant Leadership Control Psychological Distress in Crisis? Moderation and Mediation Mechanism

Muhammad Zada,1 Shagufta Zada,1,2 Jawad Khan,3 Imran Saeed,4 Yong Jun Zhang,1 Alejandro Vega-Muñoz,5 Guido Salazar-Sepúlveda6 1Business School Henan University, Kaifeng, 475000, People’s Republic of China; 2Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, Ilma University, Karachi, Pakistan; 3Department of Business Administration, Iqra National University, Peshawar, Pakistan; 4IBMS, The University of Agriculture, Peshawar, Pakistan; 5Public Policy Observatory, Universidad Autónoma de Chile, Santiago, 7500912, Chile; 6Departamento de Ingeniería Industrial, Facultad de Ingeniería, Universidad Católica de la Santísima Concepción, Concepción, 4090541, ChileCorrespondence: Yong Jun Zhang, Business School Henan University, Kaifeng, Henan, 475000, People’s Republic of China, Email 10090055@vip.henu.edu.cnPurpose: This study aims to investigate the impact of servant leadership on the psychological distress of healthcare staff during the Covid-19 crisis. The authors propose that work engagement mediates and mindfulness moderates the direct relationship between servant leadership and psychological distress.Methods: Time-lagged data were collected from 277 healthcare staff working at different hospitals in Pakistan. Process Macro version 3.1 on SPSS 23 was used for statistical analysis. For model fitness, we used AMOS V 22.Results: The results show that servant leadership is negatively related to psychological distress. Furthermore, work engagement mediates the relationship between servant leadership and psychological distress. Moreover, mindfulness is anticipated to moderate the direct relationship between servant leadership and psychological distress, drawing on the social exchange and conservation of resources theory.Discussion: This study finds that servant leadership is vital for the mental health of healthcare staff. Thus, it extends the utility of the concept of servant leadership to the psychology and crisis management literature.Keywords: servant leadership, mindfulness, Covid-19 crisis, work engagement, psychological distress, healthcare staff