The philosophy ofservant leadership receives a growing interest in academia and among clinical health care leaders. FewEuropean
studies are available about the importance of this philosophy for patient and staf outcomes. Prior nursing studiesin the US show thatservant
leadership isrelated to job satisfaction and better performance. Forthe purpose of investigating this amongNordic health careworkers a
questionnaire surveywas conducted among health care staf in nursing care in four hospitalsin Iceland (n=138).A new Dutch instrument
(SLS)was used in an Icelandic version.The study showsthatservant leadership is practiced in departments of nursing in these Icelandic
hospitals and significant correlationwasfound between job satisfaction and servant leadership.The findingssupport priorfindings and
indicate thatservant leadership among hospital managersisimportant forstaf satisfaction. Organizational trust isfoundational to servant
leadership, an important element ofNordic organizationalstructure and among current challenges ofsustainableNordic health care services.
There are reasonsto continue to investigate the importance of thisleadership style inNordic health care settings and, in particular, to
investigate potential linksto performance and patient outcomes.