The “left side” of authentic leadership: contributions of climate and psychological capital

Authentic Leadership and Task Performance via Psychological Capital: The Moderated Mediation Role of Performance Pressure

Authentic leadership has received significant academic attention. It is now imperative to understand how authentic leadership’s effectiveness varies in different situations or conditions, which is vital to reestablishing it as an independent leadership theory. To this end, this study aims to verify the positive influence of authentic leadership on the task performance of members within an organization. Further, it seeks to confirm the situations that moderate the relationship between authentic leadership and task performance. Specifically, the mediating mechanism of psychological capital in this relationship, the moderating effect of performance pressure on the relationship between authentic leadership and psychological capital, and the moderated mediating effect are demonstrated. This study used a time-lagged survey to test the hypotheses; two online surveys were staggered by 1 month and completed by 485 participants in South Korea. The empirical analysis confirmed all the proposed hypotheses. First, authentic leadership was positively related to task performance. Second, psychological capital had a mediating effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and task performance. Third, task performance pressure was negatively related to the relationship between authentic leadership and psychological capital. Specifically, the strength of the indirect effect increased as the employee performance pressure decreased. Based on these results, various theoretical and practical implications are suggested for the extended application of the authentic leadership theory in organizations and future research directions are proposed.

How Can We Make a Sustainable Workplace? Workplace Ostracism, Employees’ Well-Being via Need Satisfaction and Moderated Mediation Role of Authentic Leadership

Ostracism in the workplace is a common phenomenon in modern society that impairs employees’ well-being. This study suggests that workplace ostracism reduces subjective well-being by examining the effect of workplace ostracism on subjective well-being. Based on self-determination theory and resource conservation theory, this study explores the underlying processes and their contingent factors in the relationship between workplace ostracism and employee well-being. Specifically, this study hypothesizes that workplace ostracism decreases employees’ well-being by enhancing employees’ need satisfaction. Furthermore, the perception of a direct supervisor’s authentic leadership positively moderates the relationship between workplace ostracism and employees’ need satisfaction. This study used moderated mediation analysis to evaluate our predictions using a two-time online survey of 485 Korean employees. The findings revealed that workplace ostracism has a detrimental impact on employee well-being via need satisfaction. However, perceptions of a direct supervisor’s authentic leadership positively moderate the association between workplace ostracism and need satisfaction. Our results have important practical and theoretical implications in the workplace ostracism literature.

Performance Pressure as an Antecedent and Authentic Leadership as a Moderator of the Relationship Between Co-worker Undermining and Psychological Capital

As a component of organizational aggression, co-worker undermining erodes the well-being of the victims and the sustainability of the organization. Drawing on conservation of resources theory, this study identified the negative impact of co-worker undermining on the victim's psychological capital, and empirically examined the influence of performance pressure as an antecedent and of authentic leadership as a moderator to suggest approaches to minimize this negative impact. A total of 485 subordinate employees from 10 organizations in South Korea completed a questionnaire survey. To prevent common method bias, the survey was designed to recruit participants from multiple organizations and was conducted in two waves. First, the results revealed that performance pressure had a positive relationship with the perception of co-worker's undermining. Second, this perception of co-worker undermining had a negative influence on the victim's psychological capital. Third, authentic leadership had the moderating effect of decreasing the negative relationship between co-worker undermining and psychological capital. Furthermore, authentic leadership moderated the mediating relationship between the performance pressure and psychological capital through co-worker's undermining. These findings suggest that the level of performance pressure should be managed in advance so as not to reach excessive levels and the psychological capital of victims should be preserved through authentic leadership to minimize the negative impact of co-worker undermining.

An explanatory model of authentic leadership, flourishing and work-family balance of nurses in French hospitals

PURPOSE

This study aims to investigate the relationship between a positive leadership style [i.e. authentic leadership (AL)] and nurses' psychological health (i.e. nurses' flourishing and satisfaction with work-family balance), including psychological capital (PsyCap) as a mediational variable.

DESIGN/METHODOLOGY/APPROACH

A cross-sectional study was conducted with a self-report questionnaire including 1,076 nurses from public and private hospitals in France.

FINDINGS

Structural equation modeling results revealed that AL is related to nurses' flourishing and satisfaction with work-family balance and that PsyCap acted as a partial mediator between this leadership style and positive outcomes.

PRACTICAL IMPLICATIONS

This research indicated that hospitals can enhance nurses' psychological health not only in their work but also in their lives in general by improving leaders' authentic management style and developing PsyCap (e.g. staffing, training and development).

ORIGINALITY/VALUE

An original feature of this paper concerns its focus on the mediating role of PsyCap in the relationship between AL and these positive outcomes. Moreover, this study underlined the influence of leadership style on nurses' psychological health beyond occupational health. The research makes a valuable contribution to the existing AL literature by establishing a new explanatory model of AL and nurses' psychological health in the French context. It also highlights the interest in developing this leadership style in health-care settings.

Authentic leadership: the influence of work and non-work domain contextual factors

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of both work and non-work domain contextual factors (meaningful work, mentoring support, family support and challenging life events) on authentic leadership (AL).

Design/methodology/approach

Prior to survey-based study, a qualitative interview-based research was carried out with seven senior leaders in India. In the final study, data collected from 201 senior and middle-level managers and 554 followers were used to examine the influence of each of the contextual factors on AL.

Findings

Results suggest that except mentoring support, all other factors have a significant positive influence on AL. The implications of the results for authentic leadership development are discussed.

Originality/value

This is the first study where meaningful work, mentoring support, family support and challenging life events are empirically examined in the context of AL.

Perceived supervisor support and turnover intention: moderating effect of authentic leadership

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the moderating role of authentic leadership (AL) on the relationship between seasonal employee’s perception of supervisor support and turnover intention (TI) in the hospitality industry.

Design/methodology/approach

The data on perceived supervisor support (PSS), AL and TI were gathered from 305 seasonal employees of five-star hotels in Antalya, Turkey with a time lag of one month. Hierarchical linear regression and hierarchical linear modeling were performed to test the multi-level data.

Findings

The findings revealed direct significant effects of both supervisor support and AL on TI. In addition, AL moderated the negative influence of PSS on TI.

Research limitations/implications

This multi-level research highlights the significance of AL for comprehending the link between seasonal hotel employees’ PSS and their TI. Directions for future research include a cross-cultural study examining the validity of the conceptual framework. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to check the common method variance.

Practical implications

AL through strengthening PSS works as a catalyst for keeping seasonal employees in the organization for the next season. Thus, practitioners should develop supervisors’ AL skills and they should encourage supervisors to be more efficient in improving themselves as a main source of support.

Originality/value

The research investigates the little-researched area of AL at the group level in relation to PSS and TI.