https://doi.org/10.1177/0149206320906883 Journal of Management Vol. XX No. X, Month XXXX 1–34 DOI: 10.1177/0149206320906883 © The Author(s) 2020 Article reuse guidelines: sagepub.com/journals-permissions 1 Serving You Depletes Me? A Leader-Centric Examination of Servant Leadership Behaviors Chenwei Liao Hun Whee Lee* Russell E. Johnson Michigan State University Szu-Han (Joanna) Lin** University of Massachusetts Amherst Leader behaviors are dynamic and vary over time, and leaders’ actions at a given time can have ramifications for their subsequent behavior. Taking such a dynamic perspective on leader behaviors, we examined daily servant leadership behavior and its downstream effects on the leaders themselves from a within-person self-regulation perspective. Results from two experi- ence sampling studies consistently revealed that engaging in daily servant leadership behavior can come at a cost for the leaders. Specifically, for leaders who are low in perspective taking, engaging in servant leadership behavior was associated with increases in same-day depletion and next-day withdrawal from their leadership role (i.e., greater laissez-faire behavior). However, for leaders who frequently exercise perspective taking, engaging in daily servant leadership behavior was instead associated with decreases in depletion and subsequent laissez- faire behavior, suggesting that servant leadership behaviors are replenishing for these individu- als. Experience in perspective taking is therefore a key individual difference that determines whether enacting servant leadership behavior is beneficial or detrimental for leaders. We dis- cuss theoretical and practical implications of our findings and provide avenues for future lead- ership research. Keywords: servant leadership behavior; self-control depletion; experience sampling * Hun Whee Lee is now affiliated with The Ohio State University. **Szu-Han (Joanna) Lin is now affiliated with University of Georgia. Corresponding author: Chenwei Liao, School of Human Resources and Labor Relations, Michigan State University, 368 Farm Lane, S429 South Kedzie, East Lansing, MI 48824, USA. Email: cliao@msu.edu 906883JOM XX X 10.1177/0149206320906883Journal of ManagementLiao et al. / Short Title research-article 2020