Authentic Leadership and Employee Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Attachment Insecurity

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between authentic leadership and the three dimensions of employee well-being (job satisfaction, perceived work stress, and stress symptoms). Furthermore, attachment insecurity was considered as a mediating factor between authentic leadership and the three dimensions of employee well-being. Data were obtained from a field sample of 212 health care providers with patient contact at five hospitals in the North East of Iran. Initially, collected data were analyzed with multiple confirmatory factor analyses. Then, structural equation modeling was applied to test proposed hypotheses. First, it was shown that authentic leadership negatively impacted attachment insecurity. Second, attachment insecurity proved to be a factor impinging upon job satisfaction. On the contrary, higher levels of attachment insecurity was associated with higher levels of perceived stress and stress symptoms. Third, it was revealed that attachment insecurity partially mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction and fully mediated the relationship between authentic leadership, perceived stress, and stress symptoms. According to the literature of authentic leadership, this is one of the first research studies, and literally the first in the East exploring the effects of authentic leadership on the exclusive combination of dimensions offered in this paper. Moreover, researchers in the field of management have not delved enough into attachment and its antecedents and consequences in leader-follower relationship. This is one of the first studies to provide evidence of the relationship between authentic leadership, attachment security and employee well-being. As a further analysis, the final model was separately put under the two different lens of gender (female and male) and some interesting findings were discussed in the discussion.

Authentic Leadership and Altruism: The Mediating Role of Meaningfulness

“…The concept of authenticity has attracted attention with the interest of humanistic psychology [9]. Positive psychology aims to understand organizational dynamics and positive human processes that make positive 448 Authentic Leadership and Altruism: The Mediating Role of Meaningfulness organizational life meaningful [10].…”

Authentic Leadership and Employees’ Work-related Quality of Life: A Study of IT Organizations in India

“…Literature also reveals that authentic leaders provide favorable, flexible working environment to their employees (Nelson et al, 2014;Shirey, 2006) and positively influence employee well-being (Nelson et al, 2014). Lastly, it has also been found that perceived authentic leadership leads to lower levels of stress among employees (Rahimnia & Sharifirad, 2015). This could be due to the positivity associated with authentic leadership that leads to increased levels of perceived well-being among their followers (Macik-Frey, Quick & Cooper, 2009) possibly through processes such as 'social contagion' ).…”

“…Scholars have maintained that various individual traits such as transparency, integrity and self-discipline are integral to authentic leadership (Ilies, Morgeson, & Nahrgang, 2005;Avolio, Gardner, Walumbwa, Luthans & May, 2004). Numerous studies focusing on authentic leadership have indicated that it is a major determinant of several positive organizational outcomes; for instance, employee creativity (Cerne, Jaklic & Škerlavaj, 2013), 'psychological capital' of followers (Clapp-smith, Vogelgesang, & Avey, 2009), employee satisfaction (Walumwa et al, 2008), follower ethical decision-making (Cianci, Hannah, Roberts & Tsakumis, 2014), organizational citizenship behaviour (Walumwa et al, 2008) and employee well-being (Rahimnia & Sharifirad, 2015;Nelson et al, 2014).…”

“…Azanza, Moriano & Molero (2013) have postulated that authentic leadership is a significant mediator of the relationship between work climate and employees' job satisfaction. Studies have also posited that authentic leadership negatively influences employees' perceived work stress (Rahimnia & Sharifirad, 2015). Research evidence shows that leaders have a remarkable impact on the well-being of their employees as they have an ability to directly influence the psychological and social aspects of the work environment of the employees (Gilbreath & Benson, 2004).…”

A Framework for Research and Practice: Relationship among Authentic Leadership, Employee Well-Being, Organizational Innovative Climate and Innovative Behavior

“…There are various evidences shows that authentic leadership and well being are closed related (llies et al, 2005;Rahimnia et al, 2015;Farida et al, 2009). Firstly, they both reflect positive psychological resources within individual from their definition, we know that authentic leadership is a process that draws from leader's positive psychological capacities (Gardner, 2011), and employee well-being also reflects person's positive emotion and positive cognition (Zheng et al, 2015).…”