The purpose of this study was to measure the relationship between followers’ perceptions
of the servant leadership of their immediate supervisor and followers’ sense of empowerment in
the context of small businesses. A quantitative survey was completed by 116 employees of small
businesses, including measures of supervisors’ servant leadership behaviors and followers’ selfperceived
empowerment. Followers’ perceptions of being empowered were found to correlate
positively with their ratings of the servant leadership behaviors of immediate supervisors. The
findings support the researchers’ assertions that followers’ perceptions of being empowered will
increase as supervisors’ servant leadership behaviors increase