2.1. Servant leadership and follower behavior
Social learning theory posits that employees learn how to respond to their environment by observing leaders and emulating
their leader's behavior in their own work (Bandura, 1977, 1986). Servant leaders are role models of considerate treatment of
others, including helping others by assisting in their development and growth. This orientation toward helping and serving others
is the distinctive focus of servant leaders (Stone, Russell, & Patterson, 2004). Servant leaders model striving to help others flourish
(Stone et al., 2004). Having learned how to treat others in the workplace setting through a servant leader's example and having
benefitted from this behavior, helping becomes the accepted model for workplace behavior. The behavior of a servant leader is
henceforth mirrored in how employees treat others (Neubert et al., 2008).
In the context of a hospital care unit, nurses often need to work together to complete their work, solve problems, and address the
needs of patients (Anderson &Williams, 1996). Nursing leadership plays a significant role in creating a work environment for nurses
that provides support, adequate resources, and positive relationships (Laschinger & Leiter, 2006). Servant leaders, in particular, with
their distinctive focus on the interests of employees andwillingness to help others, provide amodel followers learn fromand can emulate
tomeet the challenges of theirworkplace. Thus, the first behaviorwe expectwill be evident among nursesworking in a unitwith
a servant leader as a nurse manager is that nurses will engage in more helping behavior aimed at assisting one another.