Servant leadership and service recovery performance: influence of creative adaptability and employee psychological well-being

Purpose This study draws on insights from the theory of conservation of resources to explore the impact of servant leadership (SL), creative adaptability (CA), and psychological well-being (PWB) on the service recovery performance (SRP) of employees. More specifically, the objective of this study is twofold: one to ascertain whether employees' service recovery performance would increase significantly after their exposure to SL, and two, to determine whether CA and PWB serially mediate the link between SL and SRP. Design/methodology/approach To analyze the data collected from a sample of 371 air service providers’ front-line employees (FLEs), partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) was performed. Findings The result indicated that SL was positively related to SRP. Likewise, the results of the serial mediation analysis showed that CA and PWB independently and serially mediated the SL-SRP relationship. This study makes significant contributions to the literature on SL and SRP. Originality/value This study adds to the growing body of research on how FLEs effectively deal with customers who are dissatisfied with their service failure experiences. Specifically, this research expands on previous results by proving the favorable effect of leadership style on FLE’s service recovery performance. In addition, the current study examines how effective service recovery is by assessing the employee’s resources based on COR theory. Finally, this research provides new insight into the influence of SL on SRP through the serial mediation of CA and FLE’s well-being.