The Role of Empathic Communication in the Relationship between Servant Leadership and Workplace Loneliness: A Serial Mediation Model

• Published in: Behavioral sciences Vol. 14; no. 1; p. 4
• Main Authors: Jin, Jiaying, Ikeda, Hiroshi
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01-01-2024
• Subjects: Behavior; behavioral empathy; Cognitive ability; Communication; COVID-19; empathic communication; Empathy; employee well-being; Employees; Hypotheses; Leader-member exchange; Loneliness; Mediation; Mental health; Personal development; Personal relationships; Servant leadership; Social isolation; Social networks; Surveys; Telecommuting; workplace loneliness; New York; China; workplace loneliness; empathic communication; employee well-being; behavioral empathy; servant leadership
• ISSN: 2076-328X; 2076-328X
• DOI: 10.3390/bs14010004

Researchers have increasingly concentrated on loneliness in the workplace as a crucial factor influencing the mental health of employees and the viability of telework. In contrast, the current understanding of the strategies mitigating workplace loneliness and how leaders utilize their behaviors to impact followers' loneliness remains limited. Since servant leadership values the emotional needs of followers and displays a high level of empathy, this study investigated the direct and indirect effects of servant leadership on workplace loneliness. In this study, 267 employees (mean age = 31.5 years) from 28 provinces in China were recruited to participate in this survey. We proposed that servant leaders motivate their own empathic communication and other followers' empathic communication to reduce lonely followers' workplace loneliness. This research further examined the relationship between the leader's and colleagues' empathic communication, and the two jointly mediate the connection between servant leadership and followers' workplace loneliness. We constructed a serial mediation model to examine the relationships between servant leadership, leader's empathic communication, colleagues' empathic communication, and workplace loneliness. The results indicate that servant leadership creates a cycle of empathy and provides insights into building a culture of empathy to improve employee well-being.