Servant Leadership, Employee Satisfaction, and Organizational Performance in Rural Community Hospitals

Servant leadership in today’s healthcare settings provides a unique avenue through which to assess leadership behaviors and the relationship to employee satisfaction and healthcare patient satisfaction measures. This study sought to determine the degree that leaders in community hospitals were perceived as servant leaders and the level of employee satisfaction at these rural community hospitals. Two hundred nineteen surveys were completed from 10 community hospitals. This research revealed that servant leadership and employee satisfaction are strongly correlated. In addition, servant leadership has a significant correlation between intrinsic satisfaction and HCAHPS scores. Further research can be extended to additional categories and geographic areas of the United States to determine how servant leadership, employee satisfaction, and HCAHPS are related. Hospital administrators should examine the findings of this study for possible implications to their leadership style and practice in determining how it may impact the organization they lead.