Servant leadership and task performance: The chain mediating role of perceived insider status and responsible behavior

Boqiang Zong¹, Yungui Guo^2,*, Ningwei Cai³
1 School of Economics and Management, Changsha University of Science and Technology, Changsha, China
2 School of Business, Hunan University of Science and Technology, Xiangtan, China
3 Compliance Department, China CITIC Bank Headuarters, Beijing, China
* Corresponding Author: Yungui Guo. Email: email

Journal of Psychology in Africa https://doi.org/10.32604/jpa.2026.078831

Received 08 January 2026; Accepted 27 April 2026; Published online 22 May 2026

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Abstract

This study investigated the role of perceived insider status and responsible behavior in the relationship between servant leadership and task performance in the manufacturing, retail, and service sectors. Self-reported survey data were collected from 667 employees across multiple Chinese organizations (females = 52.2%, predominantly aged 26–45 72.0%) and were analyzed using structural equation modeling. Results of testing a sequential mediation model showed that servant leadership is associated with higher task performance. Responsible behavior acts as a partial independent mediator, accounting for 57.24% of the total effect. Importantly, perceived insider status and responsible behavior were found to sequentially mediate this relationship for higher task performance, accounting for the remaining 42.76% of the effect. These findings support integrating social exchange and self-concept theory to explain the servant leadership and task performance relationship through a sequential process of relational identity formation and identity-congruent action. Specifically, the “identity-to-action” pathway with perceived insider status translates into responsible behavior that drives task performance. For practitioners, cultivating task performance requires not merely fostering perceived insider status, but ensuring it is channeled into responsible behavior—the proximal driver of performance.