At the start of 2020, no one had predicted the challenging effects that the COVID-19 pandemic was going to have on higher education institutions. Research indicates that leaders in higher education institutions were ill-prepared to lead during the pandemic. This study explored U.S. higher education institutions officials’ servant leadership behavior and the level of readiness for the COVID-19 pandemic. This study employed a cross-sectional study design with a quantitative approach. The results show that all institution officials lacked in the ‘Leading the Way’ measure of Crisis Leadership, and the overall measure of crisis leadership did not show a significant difference between institutions. Furthermore, all servant leadership behaviors (altruistic calling, emotional healing, wisdom, persuasive mapping, and organizational stewardship) significantly predict the officials’ level of readiness to the pandemic. This line of inquiry informs a new direction in the theory related to servant leadership and crisis leadership readiness. © 2022 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.
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