Exploring Authentic Leadership through Leadership Journey of Gandhi

Abstract

Leadership research will benefit from bringing in the subjective realities of becoming a leader by considering the leadership journey. Generating an understanding of how leaders turn episodes in time into meaningful subjective narratives helps shed light on the meaning-making process. We seek in this inquiry to understand self-awareness with a narrative meaning-making process. In this study, we adopt a narrative research approach for analyzing the autobiography of Mahatma Gandhi, who is widely acknowledged as an authentic leader. The study explores individual experiences of becoming a leader and factors leading to the manifestation of authentic leadership behaviour as well as followers’ outcomes. The study will also contribute towards the understanding of triggering events experienced by the leader at different points in life which have led to self-awareness.

Authentic leadership and flourishing: Do trust in the organization and organizational support matter during times of uncertainty?

“…In this study, the support and trust led to a positive outcome: the flourishing of employees. This outcome is similar to previous research that established that authentic behavior had a profound influence on creating supportive workspaces and trust ( Alkaabi, 2018 ; Malik et al, 2020 ), as well as the well-being of employees ( Kernis, 2003 ; Ilies et al, 2005 ; Rautenbach and Rothmann, 2017b ; Kerns, 2018 ; Agarwal, 2021 ; Nair et al, 2021 ), directly or indirectly. What makes these results more significant is that during times of COVID-19, leaders had less time to interact on a one-to-one basis or to demonstrate support and care.…”

“…Recent studies found that authentic leadership could be beneficial to organizations, as it was associated with a variety of positive end results, such as follower creativity, team member performance ( Duarte et al, 2021 ), consumer focus, personnel retention ( Ribeiro et al, 2020 ), and employee flourishing ( Nair et al, 2021 ; Kleynhans et al, 2022 ). Ryff and Keyes (1995) maintain that when leaders exhibit behavior linked to the dimensions of authentic leadership (self-awareness, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and relational transparency), they can influence the well-being of employees.…”

Effect of Chief Executive Officer’s Sustainable Leadership Styles on Organization Members’ Psychological Well-Being and Organizational Citizenship Behavior

“…Authenticity refers to self-awareness and consistency of inner thoughts, emotions, and values. It consists of two elements: self-awareness and self-regulation [144]. Self-awareness refers to recognizing one's true self at present and is a process of continuously understanding one's talents, strengths, goals, core values, beliefs, and desires.…”

“…Self-awareness refers to recognizing one's true self at present and is a process of continuously understanding one's talents, strengths, goals, core values, beliefs, and desires. Self-regulation is the process by which a person aligns their behavior with their values and goals [144].…”

Authentic Leadership, Trust (in the Leader), and Flourishing: Does Precariousness Matter?

“…Authentic leaders inspire and motivate subordinates to achieve goals through authenticity and positive moral views, aided by enhanced awareness and effective communication (Crawford et al, 2019). Recent research indicated that AL could have a positive impact on organizations as it has been linked to various outcomes, such as individual creativity, individual performance (Duarte et al, 2021), customer orientation, employee retention (Ribeiro et al, 2020), and employee F (Nair et al, 2021). Although AL has been conceptualized in several ways and evaluated in various empirical research studies (Gardner et al, 2011), possibly the most frequently utilized definition is the one posited by Walumbwa et al (2008) as "A pattern of leader behavior that draws upon and promotes both positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate to foster greater self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing of information, and relational transparency on the part of leaders working with followers, fostering positive self-development" (p. 94).…”