Servant leadership and team performance: The mediating role of knowledge-sharing climate

We examined servant leadership as a precursor to a knowledge-sharing climate and demonstrated the mediating role of knowledge-sharing climate in the relationship between servant leadership and team performance. Data from 67 teams, comprising 1,884 direct sales representatives of a large cosmetics company in South Korea, were analyzed at the team level. Actual team sales data were obtained from the company 3 months after surveying, and regression analyses and bootstrapping were used to test the hypotheses. The results showed 2 key findings: servant leadership positively affected the knowledge-sharing climate of the team; and knowledge-sharing climate mediated the relationship between servant leadership and team sales performance. Theoretical and practical implications of the findings are discussed.