58 Ducere Est Servire: THE LEADERSHIP JOURNAL OF DALLAS BAPTIST UNIVERSITY Previous research has suggested that morality, or ethical behavior, is universally desired across cultures.9 In contrast, some preferred leadership practices are culture-specific.10 Broadly, implicit leadership theory states that “not all followers want the same things from their leaders,”11 suggesting that some followers may benefit more from servant leadership than others, potentially based on their cultural preferences and especially if specific servant leadership practices are viewed as undesirable or inappropriate within their cultural contexts.12 Previous studies that have examined the effectiveness of servant leadership in different cultures have focused on applying the theory broadly rather than examining the effectiveness of specific dimensions.13 Examining prior literature and desire for Liden et al.’s servant leadership dimensions in two distinct contexts will provide greater insight into which leadership practices are universally desired and which function better only in specific cultural contexts. Liu et al. claimed that servant leadership “is a universal concept” that has various cross-cultural expressions,14 while researchers who have studied servant leadership in China suggested that the Chinese conceptualization of servant leadership, which is in the process of being defined, differs from the American conceptualization of servant leadership.15 Liden et al.’s Seven Servant Leadership Dimensions Liden et al.’s method of measuring servant leadership is just one of many used in academia. Their survey for measuring servant leadership has commonly been used in China16 and was commended for having a “stable factor structure across multiple samples” by another servant leadership research team.17 The seven servant leadership dimensions Liden et al. (2008) identified are Emotional Healing, Creating Value for the Community, Conceptual Skills, Empowering, Helping Followers Grow and Succeed, Putting Followers First, and Behaving Ethically.18 Emotional Healing is “the act of showing sensitivity to others’ personal concerns.”19 Creating Value for the Community entails “a conscious, genuine concern for helping the community.”20 Conceptual Skills is “possessing the knowledge of the organization and tasks at hand so as to be in a position to effectively support and assist others, especially immediate followers.”21 Empowering involves “encouraging and facilitating others, especially immediate followers, in identifying and solv-
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