textPurpose:
The purpose of this paper is to describe the development and validation of a multi-dimensional instrument to measure servant leadership. 
Design/Methodology/Approach 
Based on an extensive literature review and expert judgment, 99 items were formulated. In three steps, using eight samples totaling 1571 persons from The Netherlands and the UK with a diverse occupational background, a combined exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis approach was used. This was followed by an analysis of the criterion-related validity. 
Findings:
The final result is an eight-dimensional measure of 30 items: the eight dimensions being: standing back, forgiveness, courage, empowerment, accountability, authenticity, humility, and stewardship. The internal consistency of the subscales is good. The results show that the Servant Leadership Survey (SLS) has convergent validity with other leadership measures, and also adds unique elements to the leadership field. Evidence for criterion-related validity came from studies relating the eight dimensions to well-being and performance. 
Implications: 
With this survey, a valid and reliable instrument to measure the essential elements of servant leadership has been introduced.
Originality/Value 
The SLS is the first measure where the underlying factor structure was developed and confirmed across several field studies in two countries. It can be used in future studies to test the underlying premises of servant leadership theory. The SLS provides a clear picture of the key servant leadership qualities and shows where improvements can be made on the individual and organizational level; as such, it may also offer a valuable starting point for training and leadership development.

The Servant Leadership Survey: Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Measure

Modeling the effects of digital transformation in Indian manufacturing industry

Microfinance has received a lot of attention recently, both from policy makers as well as in academic circles. Two of the main topics that have been hotly debated are explaining joint liability group lending and its implications for reducing information asymmetries, and the trade-off between the financial sustainability and outreach of microfinance programmes. This Feature contains three novel empirical contributions providing new insights with respect to why and how joint liability group lending works. It also contains the first large-scale systematic analysis of the trade-off between financial performance and outreach of microfinance institutions.

The empirics of microfinance: what do we know?

We study the effect of having a female top manager (FTM) on firm performance using World Bank Enterprise Survey data that cover 130,000 firms in 130 mostly developing countries from 2008 to 2017. We show that firms with FTMs underperform their male-led counterparts. FTMs’ underperformance is largely driven by small and medium-sized enterprises and varies widely across world regions. FTMs influence firm performance through affecting firms’ three critical factors of production, which are finance, technology, and labor. Our mediation analyses indicate that the negative FTM–performance relation can be partially mediated by firms’ access to finance, technology usage, and labor selection, which are proxied by lines of credit, internet purchases, and labor cost, correspondingly. This study synthesizes the leadership literature, extends upper echelon and social role theories, and brings clarity to the equivocal findings in the literature on the relation between female leadership and firm performance. 

Gender and firm performance around the world: The roles of finance, technology and labor

The COVID-19 pandemic has drawn attention to the strategic responses of Chinese firms on digital transformation and led to a call for enhancing competitive advantage via accelerating digital transformation. Besides the physical health issue, the pandemic has triggered an extraordinary social and economic crisis in which service industries have been attacked hard. In this situation, firms are meeting increasing competitive pressure, which urges them to achieve better performance with the help of digital transformation. Based on the technology-organization-environment framework and dynamic capabilities theory, this research proposed two studies with two methods, including a structural equation model and a regression discontinuity design with a fixed-effect model. The findings suggest digital transformation mediates the relationship between competitive pressure and firm performance among Chinese small- and medium-sized enterprises and large firms after the outbreak of COVID-19, respectively. It confirms that digital transformation is a practical strategic decision for Chinese service firms to respond to increasing competitive pressure in the COVID-19 pandemic. Besides, the results also illustrate the moderating effects of absorptive, innovative, and adaptive capability on the relationship between digital transformation and firm performance among large firms.

/pdf/how-firms-cope-with-social-crisis-the-mediating-role-of-2w9a9n9s.pdf

How firms cope with social crisis: The mediating role of digital transformation as a strategic response to the COVID-19 pandemic

Despite scholars' early emphasis on the role people play in fostering firms' absorptive capacity (AC), research has not deeply explored the individual-level antecedents of this important capability. We draw on adaptive-innovative theory to explain how top decision makers' cognitive styles can influence the degree to which their firms develop AC. Top decision makers who have high adaptive cognitive style prefer to adhere to existing norms, follow established procedures, and rely on current knowledge, and we argue that these attributes will strengthen those dimensions of AC based on firms' existing knowledge and knowledge-assimilation abilities. Top decision makers who have high innovative cognitive style are more likely to reframe information, experiment with new problem-solving approaches, and take risks by violating norms, and we argue that these attributes may strengthen those dimensions of AC based on firms' acquisition of new knowledge and the assimilation of knowledge throughout the firm. We also argue that gender differences may moderate these effects. Empirical results support our hypotheses.

/pdf/by-the-book-or-out-of-the-box-top-decision-maker-cognitive-4kp8qk830f.pdf

By the Book or Out of the Box? Top Decision Maker Cognitive Style, Gender, and Firm Absorptive Capacity.

This study examines the effect of group lending and an incremental loan structure on the innovativeness of borrowers’ business activities. A person-situation interaction model is proposed where gro...

/pdf/how-microlending-affects-innovation-and-entrepreneurship-bndtjkudfc.pdf

How Microlending Affects Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Ethiopia

Microlending has become one of the primary interventions intended to alleviate poverty in the developing world. However, empirical results of the benefits of microlending have been disappointing. This article proposes the common microlending practice of group lending reduces the likelihood borrowers will engage in innovative activities, which has been demonstrated to be a key factor in improving borrower outcomes. The hypotheses proposed are tested with data collected from interviews with 340 microloan borrowers in Ethiopia. The findings are consistent with a weak sorting effect where innovative individuals are less likely to participate in group loans than individual loans, and a social pressure effect where innovative individuals taking group loans are pressured to behave less innovatively than their peers taking individual loans.

How group lending affects innovation: evidence from ethiopia

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Papers

By the Book or Out of the Box? Top Decision Maker Cognitive Style, Gender, and Firm Absorptive Capacity.

How Microlending Affects Innovation and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from Ethiopia

How group lending affects innovation: evidence from ethiopia