In this exploratory study, I examined the workability of servant leadership theory (Patterson, 2003) in an Ethiopian context for the first time. Patterson's servant leadership theory is comprised of seven servant leadership virtues, agapao love, humility, altruism, vision, trust, empowerment, and service. I investigated the causal relationship between her servant leadership virtues using 211 participants from Wachemo University in Hossana, Ethiopia. The participants assessed the servant leadership of their instructors using Dennis and Bocarnea's (2005) revised Servant Leadership Assessment Instrument. The simple and multiple regression analysis results revealed the causal relationship between the servant leadership virtues, which extended the findings of previous studies (Koshal, 2005; L. Nelson, 2003), which indicated the compatibility of Patterson's servant leadership virtues with African cultural values. In addition, I performed t tests to answer the research question that addressed the perception of servant leadership of leaders by leader-follower gender similarities. The result of the tests indicated differences in three of the constructs, humility, altruism, and empowerment. However, it showed no difference in servant leadership by gender-follower relationship in the love, vision, trust, and service constructs. I discussed possible implications of the deviation in the results, and the role of the love construct to support the unconditional aspect of servant leadership. By testing Patterson's servant leadership virtues in Ethiopia, I pioneered a new leadership model for the country that has been through a lot with an unsubstantiated socioeconomic and political structure to see itself and work toward human-centered leadership philosophy. [The dissertation citations contained here are published with the permission of ProQuest LLC. Further reproduction is prohibited without permission. Copies of dissertations may be obtained by Telephone (800) 1-800-521-0600. Web page: http://www.proquest.com.bibliotheek.ehb.be/en-US/products/dissertations/individuals.shtml.]