Servant leadership as a conduit towards mission-centric sustainability in emerging market social enterprises: the case of South Africa

With a focus on South Africa, the chapter presents an examination of servant leadership as a trigger for mission-centric social entrepreneurship in emerging markets. The chapter provides a behavioural tool and handbook towards focusing on mission-centric social entrepreneurship avoiding socially and long-term unsustainable excessive commercialization. Several recurring variables and associations from the literature on servant leadership are explored and discussed in relation to South African social enterprises to validate the argument presented. Using a random sample of 348 local social enterprises, it is seen that gender, “title” and “options” present an association with servant leadership traits. In addition, it is shown that servant leadership traits presented are associated to the choice of type of social enterprise strategy. The chapter finally presents recommendations for managers and potential social entrepreneurs in emerging markets to achieve sustainability and avoid a mission drift. In addition, further academic research avenues are presented.