Goal orientation and servant leadership: the mediating role of affect spin
研究了目标导向如何通过影响领导者的日常情感波动性（情感波动性）来促进仆人式领导行为，发现学习目标导向通过降低情感波动性间接提升仆人式领导。
Purpose This study examines the self-regulatory mechanisms underlying servant leadership. Grounded in the resource allocation perspective (Kanfer et al., 1994) and the cognitive appraisal theory of emotions (Lazarus, 1991), we propose that goal orientation influences servant leadership through its impact on affect spin, a measure of intraindividual affect variability. Design/methodology/approach The study employs a matched-sample design involving 89 supervisors and 259 subordinates. Supervisors reported their goal orientation and daily affect states using the Day Reconstruction Method (Kahneman et al., 2004) over three non-consecutive days, while subordinates provided ratings of their supervisors’ servant leadership. Findings Results indicate that learning goal orientation (LGO) is positively associated with servant leadership. Furthermore, affect spin mediates this relationship, suggesting that leaders with higher LGO experience have lower affect spin, thereby conserving self-regulatory resources necessary to sustain servant behaviors. In contrast, both performance-prove and performance-avoid goal orientations exhibited only marginal or nonsignificant relationships with affect spin and servant leadership. Originality/value This study contributes to the servant leadership literature by shifting the focus from static individual characteristics to dynamic self-regulatory processes. In doing so, it provides a more nuanced understanding of how servant leadership emerges and is sustained over time.