The effect of national cultural dimensions on servant leadership practice: A comparison of the United States and Ecuador

This study analyzes the effect of the national culture dimensions individualism and collectivism and power distance (Hofstede 1980) on the practice of servant leadership (Greenleaf 2002) in two higher education institutions (one from the United States and the other from Ecuador). These countries were selected for their contrasting levels in terms of these cultural dimensions. Representative samples of students and administrative staff of the two institutions were obtained. Adapted versions of a servant leadership measurement instrument (Dennis and Bocarnea 2005) and a questionnaire to measure "individualism and collectivism"(Singelis et al. 1995) were applied to the samples. An instrument based on the characteristics of "power distance"identified by Hofstede (1980) was also applied. Initially, independent sample T tests were applied to identify significant differences between the two samples in the variables of interest. Posteriorly, Pearson's correlation coefficients and linear regression analysis were performed to analyze the relationships among the variables. Finally, Fisher's Z tests were performed to identify differences in the magnitude of the correlations between the two samples. There was a statistically significant difference between the samples with regard to servant leadership and power distance. The results also showed that power distance was a significant predictor of servant leadership in the two samples, with a different magnitude. Additionally, the findings revealed individualism to be a significant predictor of servant leadership only in the Ecuadorian sample. The results support the notion that specific national cultural dimensions affect the practice of servant leadership and this relationship has a different magnitude depending on the culture.