Abstract
Purpose
Servant leadership is generally accepted as a type of leadership associated with positive outcomes for employees’ well-being, organizational commitment, and team performance due to empowerment-based practices. However, if empowerment-based practices are followed by follower empowerment and participative decision-making practices, there is a risk of unintended consequences for the organization. In this paper, the concept of servant leadership overextension is introduced as a type of leadership where empowerment practices might affect the decisiveness of the leader and decision avoidance by the organization. The purpose of this paper is to conceptualize the potential impact of empowerment-based leadership practices on the organizational coordination process by decision-making delays.
Design/methodology/approach
This research aims to develop a qualitative research design with regard to an interpretivist research approach. The research design will be followed by an inductive research strategy. The research aims to empirically investigate empowerment-based leadership practices associated with servant leadership overextension. Semi-structured interviews will be used as a research method to empirically investigate follower perceptions of decision-making processes in empowerment-based leadership environments (Bryman, 2016).
Findings
The conceptual analysis of empowerment-based leadership practices suggests that decision-making delays might occur due to the emphasis on empowerment practices. As a result, servant leadership overextension might affect the organizational coordination process by creating ambiguity in the authority structure of the leader (Yukl, 2013).
Originality/value
This research aims to extend the existing servant leadership literature by exploring the potential consequences of empowerment-based practices. The concept of servant leadership overextension might serve as a foundation for further research on decision-making processes in empowerment-based leadership environments (Eva et al., 2019).