Unlocking the mask: a look at the process by which authentic leaders impact follower attitudes and behaviors

Abstract

The conceptual and empirical links between authentic leadership and follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance outcomes have not been fully developed. Although we have a number of articles developing the theory of authentic leadership and testing propositions that will appear in a forthcoming special issue of The Leadership Quarterly (Vol. 16, Issue 3, 2005), the focus of this article is to provide some of the initial foundation work for the broader theoretical framework of how authentic leaders influence follower attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Here, we draw from positive organizational behavior, trust, hope, emotion, identification, and identity theories to describe the processes by which authentic leaders exert their influence on followers' attitudes and behaviors. Research propositions based on the proposed theoretical model and implications for future theory building and research are presented.

Transforming the workplace environment to prevent non-communicable chronic diseases: participatory action research in a South African power plant

“…The team was diverse in terms of age, gender, professional and cultural background, as well as position within the organization. Health programmes that are driven by a diverse set of experts rather than only health professionals may be more effective at solving complex problems because they engage multiple disciplines [35,36]. The CIG, therefore, worked in a transdisciplinary approach, which is defined ‘as research efforts conducted by investigators from different disciplines working jointly to create new conceptual, theoretical, methodological, and translational innovations that integrate and move beyond discipline-specific approaches to address a common problem’ [37].…”

“…The CIG identified a style of leadership that was congruent with the theory of authentic leadership [36]. This could be understood in terms of an emphasis on enhancing trust, collaboration and acceptance of others’ differences, as well as meaningful recognition, effective communication and appreciation of others’ contributions [19,24,34].…”

“…This could be understood in terms of an emphasis on enhancing trust, collaboration and acceptance of others’ differences, as well as meaningful recognition, effective communication and appreciation of others’ contributions [19,24,34]. In addition, authentic leadership enhances commitment and engagement of group members, which leads to better performance and achievement of outcomes [35,36,38]. The functioning of the CIG was congruent with John Maxwell’s 4Cs of effective teamwork: the importance of group chemistry, character that makes trust possible, belief in the capacity to make a difference, and members contributing beyond their job responsibilities [39].…”

Explaining authentic leadership work outcomes from the perspective of self-determination theory

“…The construct of authentic leadership is under development, the dimension of the construct, discriminant validity, and outcomes of authentic leadership should be defined. Little attention was drawn to the leader-follower relationship, the consequences of authentic leadership on dyadic leader-follower interaction (Eagly, 2005;Avolio et al, 2004).…”

“…Authentic leadership is wealthy in safe (Zhu et al, 2004;Avolio et al, 2004), meaningful and enduring (George et al, 2007) relations. Authentic leadership theory may contribute to the research of the need of relatedness within self-determination theory.…”