The effect of spiritual leadership on proactive customer service performance: The roles of psychological empowerment and power distance

Scholars have consistently demonstrated that spiritual leadership yields positive outcomes for employees. However, it is not clear how spiritual leadership influences proactive customer service performance. The purpose of this research is to develop a model, grounded in social cognitive theory, to identify why and when spiritual leadership promotes proactive customer service performance. Specifically, the focus is on how spiritual leadership through employee psychological empowerment facilitates proactive customer service performance under the condition of power distance. The empirical analysis, conducted through regression analysis using the PROCESS macro, is based on questionnaire data from 263 leaders and employees in the hospitality industry. Findings reveal that spiritual leadership has a positive effect on boosting employees’ psychological empowerment, subsequently nurturing their engagement in proactive customer service performance. Moreover, it is found that within an environment of low power distance, the favorable impact of spiritual leadership on proactive customer service performance is amplified, as employees are more inclined to challenge authority and norms and engage in proactively solving problems related to customer service. Key implications suggest scholars and managers ways to enhance proactive customer service performance.