Date of Conferral

5-22-2025

Date of Award

May 2025

Degree

Ph.D.

School

Management

Advisor

Thomas Butkiewicz

Abstract

Ineffective leadership characteristics hinder employee engagement in the financial industry, leading to negative organizational outcomes. The purpose of this quantitative, correlational, cross-sectional study was to examine the relationship between servant leaders’ humility, active listening, and trust-building for employee engagement in U.S. private financial organizations. The servant leadership theory of serving followers and the social exchange theory of reciprocity grounded this study. Using simple random sampling, the participants comprised 190 employees from private financial organizations in the United States. They completed the Servant Leadership Scale-7, Servant Leadership Assessment Instrument factors six and seven, hearing, understanding, remembering, interpreting, evaluating, and responding (HURIER) listening model, and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale-9. The multiple linear regression analysis results showed that the independent variables were statistically significant, which predicted employee engagement, F(3, 183) = 68.210, p < .001, R2 = .528. The findings supported only active listening (p < .001) and trust-building (p = .022), not humility (p = .533), supporting the partial alternative hypothesis. A key recommendation is for financial leaders and human resources management to understand the benefits of implementing servant leaders’ humility, active listening, and trust-building to increase employee engagement. The implications for positive social change include the potential for financial industry employees to model their servant leaders’ humility, active listening, and trust-building, leading to exceptional customer service, stronger community bonds, and sustainable profitability in U.S. private financial organizations.

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