HUDA ALSHAIBA BEDAIA SAFSOUF ALNAUIMI, NOOR’AIN MOHAMAD YUNUS, SITI NOORSURIANI MA'ON, MOHD ZULKIFLI ABDULLAH, AND AKRAM MUFAREH ALSHAMMAKH
DOI: https://doi.org/The global nursing shortage has heightened the demand for effective leadership approaches that enhance nurses’ performance and promote workforce retention, particularly within the reform-driven healthcare landscape of the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Servant leadership (SL) has emerged as a pivotal leadership style influencing nurses’ outcomes; however, the psychological and motivational pathways underlying this relationship remain insufficiently examined. Drawing on the Conservation of Resources (COR) theory and the Job Demands–Resources (JD-R) model, this study investigates the direct and indirect effects of SL on nurses’ work performance (NWP) through the mediating roles of nurses’ psychological well-being (NPWB) and work engagement (NWE). Data collected from 415 nurses in UAE public healthcare institutions were analyzed using partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings revealed a partially mediated model explaining 87% of the variance in NWP, indicating that SL positively influences NPWB, NWE, and NWP, while both NPWB and NWE significantly enhance NWP. These results confirm that SL strengthens nurses’ psychological and motivational resources, thereby fostering superior performance. The study advances leadership and well-being research by elucidating SL’s resource-enabling role and provides actionable insights for integrating servant leadership principles into healthcare leadership development and reform initiatives to enhance performance and sustainability.
