Are authentic leaders associated with more virtuous, committed and potent teams?

Another Piece of the Practice Environment Puzzle: Development and Validation of a Team Virtuousness Instrument

The Practice Environment Scale of the Nursing Work Index, a widely used practice environment instrument, does not measure vital coworker interrelations. Team virtuousness measures coworker interrelations, yet the literature lacks a comprehensive instrument built from a theoretical foundation that captures the structure. This study sought to develop a comprehensive measure of team virtuousness built from Aquinas' Virtue Ethics Theory that captures the underlying structure. Subjects included nursing unit staff and master of business administration (MBA) students. A total of 114 items were generated and administered to MBA students. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) and confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) were run on randomly split halves. Based on analyses, 33 items were subsequently administered to nursing unit staff. EFA and CFA were repeated on randomly split halves; CFA item loadings replicated EFA. Three components emerged from the MBA student data: integrity, α = .96; group benevolence, α = .70; and excellence, α = .91. Two components emerged from the nursing unit data: wisdom, α = .97; and excellence, α = .94. Team virtuousness varied significantly among units and correlated significantly with engagement. The two component instrument, named the Perceived Trustworthiness Indicator, is a comprehensive measure of team virtuousness built from a theoretical framework that captures the underlying structure, demonstrates adequate reliability and validity, and measures coworker interrelations on nursing units. Forgiveness and relational and inner harmony emerged as elements of team virtuousness, broadening understanding.

Authentic Leadership, Future Prospects and Affective Commitment in Early Career Employees—A Mediation Model

Even as the great resignation unfolds, turnover among early-career employees is well documented in research. Compared to their mid- and late-career counterparts, early-career professionals are more likely to need support from supervisors and opportunities for intra-organisational growth. Similarly, early career professionals are more likely to prefer mobility and exploration of career opportunities. Therefore, mechanisms to enhance affective commitment of early-career professionals become salient. Accordingly, using a sample of 206 early-career construction professionals from India, this research examined the relationship between authentic leadership and affective commitment. Further, future prospects were tested as a mediating mechanism between these two variables. PLS-SEM was employed for analysis. Our hypotheses were supported. Specifically, it was found that authentic leadership has a positive influence on future prospects and affective commitment. Further, future prospects are positively associated with affective commitment. Finally, future prospects fully mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and affective commitment. Implications for research and practice are discussed, and limitations are acknowledged.

Does Leader Character Have a Gender?

Virtues and character strengths are often assumed to be universal, considered equally important to individuals across cultures, religions, racial-ethnic groups, and genders. The results of our surveys and laboratory studies, however, bring to light subtle yet consistent gender differences in the importance attributed to character in leadership: women considered character to be more important to successful leadership in business than did men, and women had higher expectations that individuals should demonstrate character in a new leadership role. Further, the gender of the research participant affected character ratings such that male respondents viewed a female leader who exhibited agentic behaviors in a professionally challenging situation less positively than a male leader who displayed the same agentic behaviors. The data also showed that male participants rated almost every dimension of character displayed by the female leader lower than did female participants. Our findings suggest that the question as to what extent gender differences may bias the assessment of virtues and character strengths is an important one, and one for which the practical implications for individuals in organizations need to be studied in more detail.

Using the Conceptual Framework for Examining Sport Teams to Understand Group Dynamics in Professional Soccer

(1) Background: The aim of this study is to propose a model of the interactions of group dynamics using the conceptual framework to examine sports teams; (2) Methods: The hypothesized model includes measures of group structure (authentic leadership, perceived justice, coaching competency, role clarity/ambiguity, and role conflict), group cohesion (cohesion and team conflict), and group processes (collective efficacy and transactive memory systems). Participants were 581 professional soccer players (M = 24.51, SD = 3.73; 356 males and 225 females) who completed a multisection questionnaire assessing group dynamics variables; (3) Results: The results show that coach leadership predicts coaching competency and perceived justice, and both competency and justice predict role ambiguity and role conflict. Furthermore, role ambiguity and role conflict predict group cohesion and team conflict, whereas group cohesion and team conflict both predict the transactive memory system. Finally, collective efficacy is predicted by the transactive memory system; (4) Conclusions: The results suggest the importance of coach behavior (leadership, justice, and competency) and group processes to improving team functioning in a professional sports context.

Linkages of organizational commitment and leadership styles: a systematic review

Purpose

This paper aims to examine how the linkages between organizational commitment (OC) and five leadership styles, namely, authentic leadership, benevolent leadership, ethical leadership, moral leadership and spiritual leadership, have been investigated in the literature.

Design/methodology/approach

This systematic literature review applies a matrix method to examine the significant literature in leadership and OC, specifically considering themes of self-development, self-awareness, self-regulation, self-discipline and self-motivation necessary for individuals and organizations. The papers from Australian Business Deans Council, Scopus and Web of Science listed journals were reviewed. Forty-three peer-reviewed English publications from 20 journals were selected and analysed.

Findings

The synthesis of these empirical studies revealed that the relationship between OC and these leadership styles had primarily been mostly quantitatively investigated in many countries and sectors. Additionally, ethical leadership remains the most commonly researched style. Furthermore, there are mediating mechanisms and boundary conditions in the relationship between these styles and OC.

Research limitations/implications

The literature search in this study was mainly focused on English articles only; therefore, some papers in other languages may not have been included. Additional qualitative studies based on these linkage themes need to be conducted in human resource development (HRD) contexts.

Practical implications

This review offers an overall picture of the existing knowledge of OC and leadership that will be fruitful for HRD practitioners to understand and replicate these concepts.

Originality/value

There are few systematic literature reviews on the relationship between OC and leadership styles. This paper is among the first systematic reviews to analyse how leadership has been associated with OC and provides potential research directions. HRD practitioners and academia should find the results of this study helpful.

Being Virtuous Together: A One-Year Prospective Study on Organizational Virtuousness, Well-Being, and Organizational Commitment

Organizational virtuousness is defined as collective positive attributes and behaviors supported by and characteristic of an organization that promote hedonic well-being, eudaimonic well-being, and optimal performance. The underlying mechanisms through which organizational virtuousness operate remain largely unknown. Drawing from the broaden-and-build theory, organizational virtuousness is proposed to broaden employees' attention and cognition toward positive stimuli and events, and over time, build psychological resources for managing future endeavors. Building resources in turn promotes well-being and organizational commitment. A 3-wave prospective study (baseline, T1; 3 months, T2; and 1 year, T3) was conducted with a sample of 444 primary and secondary schoolteachers in Hong Kong. Organizational virtuousness, cognitive reappraisal, psychological capital (PsyCap), life satisfaction, flourishing, affective commitment, and contextual performance were assessed. The results showed that cognitive reappraisal and PsyCap served as sequential mediators of the relationships between three components of organizational virtuousness and all four indicators of well-being and organizational commitment. Collective gratitude, kindness, and forgiveness at T1 had significant indirect effects through cognitive reappraisal at T2 and then PsyCap at T3 on satisfaction with life, state of flourishing, emotional attachment to the organization, and engagement in extra-role activities that contribute to the organization's efficacy. This study is among the first to provide prospective data on the effects of organizational virtuousness. The results lead to a discussion of how organizations might shape a grateful, kind, and forgiving work culture using virtue-based management to achieve optimal individual and organizational functioning.

Virtue ethics in healthcare teams; its time has come: Review of the nursing virtue ethics literature

AIM

To summarize and evaluate the nursing virtue ethics literature, examine how virtue ethics has been applied to healthcare teams, offer a new framework to guide understanding and development of virtuous healthcare teams, and offer recommendations to nurse leaders.

BACKGROUND

With the unprecedented levels of incivility and turnover in the post- COVID-19 world, virtue ethics may provide an innovative approach for nursing leaders working to rebuild healthy practice environments.

EVALUATION

An integrative review yielded articles from eight databases using PRISMA guidelines. Level of evidence and quality were assessed using the Johns Hopkins tools.

KEY ISSUES

Virtue ethics has been of interest to the healthcare community predominantly as a concept. Most articles focused on debating whether virtue ethics belongs in nursing. Virtue ethics offers a creative strategy for leaders to attract and retain nurses.

CONCLUSION

There is a dearth of research on virtue ethics and nursing. One study empirically uncovered and validated a framework for virtue ethics in healthcare teams.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT

To rebuild strong healthcare teams, nurse leaders can model virtue ethics using an empirically derived framework while coaching their teams to do the same. Doing so holds the promise of reengaging staff and rebuilding healthy practice environments.

Authentic Leadership, Trust, and Social Exchange Relationships under the Influence of Leader Behavior

During the pandemic, government policies such as social distancing and telework have impacted trust and working or social exchange relationships in the workplace. The behavior of leaders is critical for good leadership, employees’ trust, and social exchange relationships. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the associations among authentic leadership, trust, and social exchange relationships under the influence of leader behavior. A regression-based approach was used to test the moderating and mediating effects. The results show that authentic leadership positively impacts trust and social exchange relationships, whereas trust directly affects social exchange relationships. During COVID-19, leader behaviors with ability, ethics, and positive relationships have had a positive impact on the association between authentic leadership, trust, and social exchange relationships. Additionally, trust positively mediates authentic leadership and social exchange relationships. The findings of this paper suggest that authentic leadership promotes trust and high-quality social exchange relationships. Moreover, based on leader behaviors during COVID-19, the ability to manage change effectively, boost employees’ work motivation, provide support, and take appropriate action is essential for authentic leadership to increase trust and foster a positive working relationship based on social exchange. Finally, regarding social exchange theory, high-quality leader behaviors and the leader–follower relationships drive positive associations among variables. These results will help organizational management teams to find methods to improve their organizational working relationships. The implication is that the abilities, ethics, and supportive and positive relationship behaviors of leaders are essential for effective management to improve leadership, trust, and social exchange relationships. Leaders should have the ability to manage work and people, even with teleworkers. Therefore, leader behaviors are important to maintain organizational sustainability. Further discussion on theoretical and practical implications is provided in the section.

Authentic Leadership and Taking Charge Behavior: A Moderated Mediation Model of Psychological Capital and Occupational Calling

To achieve sustainable development goals, it is necessary to establish a positive organization so that employees can pay attention to their strengths and talents and engage in more proactive behaviors, such as taking charge behavior. Taking charge behavior involves the voluntary and constructive effort of employees to make organizationally functional change, which may consume more scarce resources of employees. Previous studies have shown that support from leaders can promote employees' taking charge behavior, but most of them are from the perspective of social exchange. By drawing on the conservation of resources theory, we develop a theoretical model in which authentic leadership can provide employees with more positive resources and guide them into gain spiral of resources. We conducted two-wave questionnaire surveys to collect data from 199 employees and their supervisors at 16 companies in China. The results showed that authentic leadership was positively associated with employee taking charge via the mediation role of psychological capital. Furthermore, the direct and indirect relationship between authentic leadership and employee taking charge was demonstrated to be stronger when employees have a higher stage of occupational calling. This study provides a new explanation for the mechanism of authentic leadership and clarifies the boundary conditions of authentic leadership effectiveness.

Role of Peer Coaching in Transmitting the Benefits of Leader Coaching

Drawing on social information processing theory, the present study examines how and when leader coaching can be beneficial for team performance. Based on a sample of 58 teams from a sanitary product company in China, we found that peer coaching served as a mediator linking leader coaching and team performance. Moreover, the team individualistic/collectivism value moderated the first-stage relationship that the relationship between leader coaching and peer coaching was more positive when the team individualism value was low, but not significant when the team individualism value was high; while team task interdependence moderated the second-stage relationship that the relationship between peer coaching and team performance was more positive when the team task interdependence was high, but not significant when it was low. The findings enrich our understandings of the effectiveness of leader coaching behavior by uncovering the theoretical mechanism and boundary conditions. The study also provides important implications for coaching practice in organizations.

The mediating effect of moral courage in the relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice

Purpose

The present study examines how virtuous leadership influences moral voice in organisations through moral courage as a mediating variable.

Design/methodology/approach

The data were collected using a questionnaire survey of 376 employees and their immediate supervisors (289 employees and 87 supervisors), working in 11 firms of medical suppliers. The data were collected from employees and their immediate supervisors at two different phases and on separate questionnaires.

Findings

The results revealed that virtuous leadership has a positive and significant relationship with moral voice. Furthermore, the results showed that moral courage fully mediates the indirect relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice.

Originality/value

To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to address the relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice. In addition, it is the first to explore the mediating mechanism in the relationship between virtuous leadership and moral voice through moral courage as a mediating variable.

Influence of Authentic Leadership on Employees' Taking Charge Behavior: The Roles of Subordinates' Moqi and Perspective Taking

How to motivate employees to break through the role constraints and show more initiative determines the success or failure of a company's future development. Taking charge behavior refers to the behavior where individuals influence the change of organizational function through voluntary and constructive efforts, which is a challenging organizational citizenship behavior. This study investigates the underlying mechanism and boundary condition of authentic leadership (AL) on employees' taking charge behavior based on the role identity theory and literature concerning perspective taking. Matched data were collected from a multi-source sample that included 146 direct supervisors and 328 subordinates in mainland, China. The empirical results indicate that AL has a positive influence on the employees' taking charge behavior, and subordinates' moqi mediates the relationship between them. In addition, the employees' perspective taking positively moderated the positive relationship between AL and subordinates' moqi, as well as the mediating effect of subordinates' moqi in the relationship between AL and employees' taking charge behavior. Compared with the low levels of perspective taking, high levels of that made the influence of AL on subordinates' moqi stronger, so is the whole indirect effect. This study is the first to explore the influencing mechanism of AL on employees' taking charge behavior from the perspective of the role identity theory, thereby enriching the relevant studies and providing practical insights for organizational leaders regarding on how to foster employees to take charge.

Leadership, religiousness, state ownership of an enterprise and unethical pro-organizational behavior: The mediating role of organizational identification

This study proposes a model in which organizational identification mediates the correlations among state-owned enterprises (SOEs), authentic leadership, Christian religiousness, and unethical pro-organizational behavior (UPB). The proposed theoretical framework is based on moral identity theory, social identity theory, and social exchange theory. We tested the hypothesized model using data (N  =  389) from employees of various companies and industries in Poland. Of the respondents, 49.1% worked in SOEs. The reliability and validity of the measures were established. The correlation coefficients among the analyzed variables were obtained using the bootstrap confidence interval method. To thoroughly examine the causal relationships among the variables, covariance-based structural equation modeling (CB-SEM) was adopted. Path analysis was conducted and used to verify a model in which organizational identification mediated the correlations among state involvement in the ownership of an enterprise, authentic leadership, Christian religiousness, and UPB. State involvement in the ownership of an enterprise, authentic leadership, and Christian religiousness were linked to increased organizational identification, which in turn was linked to the intensification of UPB. With the level of organizational identification controlled, state ownership of an enterprise was linked to lower UPB intensity. Limitations, implications and future research directions are discussed.

Authentic Leadership and Improved Individual Performance: Affective Commitment and Individual Creativity's Sequential Mediation

Authentic leadership has become increasingly important in the literature, attracting the attention of many scholars in the last decade. This study adopted an employee-centered perspective to guide its examination of the relationship between authentic leadership and individual performance and investigation of the sequential mediation of employees' affective commitment and individual creativity. An analysis was conducted of data collected from 214 employees working in different business sectors. The results reveal a statistically significant positive relationship between authentic leadership and employees' workplace performance, which are both directly connected and indirectly linked through the two proposed psychosocial mechanisms. The findings thus indicate that authentic leadership reinforces workers' emotional connection with their organizations, thereby increasing their individual creativity and, subsequently, promoting better on-the-job performance. This study presents new and significant results since, on the one hand, it relied on a sequential mediation analysis of variables and, on the other hand, integrated the four main constructs into a single model. The proposed model displays the chain of effects between authentic leadership, affective commitment, individual creativity, and employee workplace performance. Implications for organizational management are discussed.

Role of leader and followers' well-being, engagement and the moderating role of psychological capital

Purpose

The present study had two objectives, first objective was to examine the impact of authentic leadership on followers' well-being and work engagement. The second objective was to examine the moderating role of authentic leadership and followers' outcomes. Despite an immense amount of research on authentic leadership, how and when authentic leadership is more or less effective in promoting the well-being and work engagement of followers is little known. Drawing from the conservation of resource theory, the authors draw upon the interactionist perspective and suggest psychological capital is a dispositional boundary condition that influences the effectiveness of authentic leadership in promoting well-being and work engagement of followers.

Design/methodology/approach

Using cross-sectional research design data were collected from 547 team members nested under 118 team leaders from the financial sector in India. The study used structural equation modelling and hierarchical regression analysis to examine the hypothesised relationships.

Findings

The findings from the study revealed that authentic leadership predicts followers' psychological well-being and work engagement. Also as proposed, the study found psychological capital moderates the relationship between authentic leadership and the well-being of followers. However, the study found psychological capital does not moderate the relationship between authentic leadership and followers' work engagement.

Research limitations/implications

The study has helped expand the nomological network of authentic leadership by examining the authentic leadership model with followers' psychological well-being and work engagement. Further, the findings suggest that psychological capital being a dispositional boundary condition, it plays a contingent role in explaining the role of authentic leadership in promoting the well-being of followers.

Practical implications

The results offer strong practical implications that can be considered as the basis for actionable strategies by the human resource management system of the organisation to enhance authentic leadership and psychological capital.

Originality/value

The study is unique in its scope and contribution, as it tries to develop an understanding of how and when authentic leadership promotes psychological well-being and work engagement by considering an interactionist approach in the Indian context.

Ethical Leadership and Team Ethical Voice and Citizenship Behavior in the Military: The Roles of Team Moral Efficacy and Ethical Climate

In recent years, unethical conduct (e.g., Enron, Lehman Brothers, Oxfam, Volkswagen) has become an important issue in management; relatedly, there is growing interest regarding the nature and implications of ethical leadership. Drawing from social learning theory, we posited that ethical leadership would positively relate to team ethical voice and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB) through team moral efficacy. Furthermore, building on social information processing theory and the social intuitionist model, we expected these effects to be accentuated in teams with a strong ethical climate. Using survey data from subordinates and leaders pertaining to 150 teams from the Republic of Korea Army, ethical leadership was found to indirectly relate to increased team ethical voice and OCB directed at individuals and the organization through team moral efficacy. These relationships tended to be amplified among teams with a strong ethical climate. In addition, these findings persisted while controlling for transformational leadership, thereby highlighting the incremental value of ethical leadership for team outcomes. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Authentic leadership, knowledge sharing, and employees’ creativity

Purpose

This paper aims to analyze the influence of authentic leadership on knowledge sharing and employee’s creativity through the mediating role of team environment of psychological safety and trust.

Design/methodology/approach

The participants in this study were 60 team leaders and 300 team members’ working in different Overseas Employment Promoters Agencies (OEPA) at Islamabad region, Pakistan. In addition to the authentic leadership of their supervisors, employees reported their perception of being psychologically safe and in the environment of team trust at work, whereas supervisors rated employee’s creativity at work areas. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) was carried out using structural equation modelling (SEM) for validation of results among the variables.

Findings

The major findings of the study were (a) authentic leadership positively predicted knowledge sharing and employees’ creativity through the mediator’s role of team environment (psychological safety and team environment of trust), and (b) team environment of psychological safety and team environment of trust affected both the knowledge sharing and employee’s creativity.

Practical implications

Authentic leadership has to be synergized with environment of psychological safety and team environment of trust, to enhance employees’ creativity. The results of the study delineated practical applications for both the researchers and policymakers. The results of this study would also augment the body of knowledge on human resource practices in both developed and developing countries.

Originality/value

This is one of the first studies to empirically examine the influence of authentic leadership on knowledge sharing and employee’s creativity through the mediator role of team environment of psychological safety and trust in OEPA in Pakistan.

Positivity at the workplace

Purpose

Recognising the value of positive organisational behaviour at the workplace, this paper aims to provide a major review of the current state of research on positivity, and subsequently proposes new pathways for more theory building relating to important constructs conceptually related to positivity. Following the integration of emerging but disparate research on workplace positivity and related concepts, the paper develops a conceptual framework depicting the relationships amongst authentic leader behaviours, organisational virtuousness, psychological capital, thriving and job performance.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper offers a systematic critical review of published studies representing the literature addressing authentic leadership, organisational virtuousness, thriving, psychological capital and job performance. The paper relied on computerised keyword searches in the main business source databases of Emerald, ProQuest, ScienceDirect, EBSCOhost and SpringerLink.

Findings

This paper leads to a conceptual framework proposing direct relationships between authentic leadership, psychological capital, organisational virtuousness and job performance. Further, authentic leadership is proposed to potentially nurture organisational virtuousness, psychological capital, employee thriving and job performance, given the theoretical linkages between these conceptually relevant variables related to positivity. Additionally, organisational virtuousness and psychological capital are projected to mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and employee thriving. Finally, organisational virtuousness, psychological capital and employee thriving are designated as mediators of the relationship between authentic leadership and job performance.

Research limitations/implications

This paper proposes a conceptual framework focusing on one form of positive leader behaviour and also assumes specific causal pathways using a positivistic research approach to understanding the leadership–performance relationship. The paper did not examine all possible antecedents of positivity at the workplace.

Practical implications

The proposed conceptual framework should form the basis of many organisational interventions, especially in relation to boosting authentic leadership, organisational virtuousness, psychological capital, employee thriving and job performance. By suggesting the association between authentic leadership, psychological capital and organisational virtuousness, this paper highlights potential benefits from effective leaders’ commitment to enhancing psychological capital and organisational virtuousness and engendering thriving behaviour and job performance.

Originality/value

This novel paper has the potential to stimulate the empirical studies on workplace positivity through the association of authentic leadership, psychological capital, organisational virtuousness and thriving.

How Authentic Leadership Promotes Individual Creativity: The Mediating Role of Affective Commitment

This study sought to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how authentic leadership can affect employees’ individual creativity through affective commitment’s mediating role. The sample included 177 leader–follower dyads from 26 private, small- and medium-sized enterprises. Followers reported their levels of affective commitment and perceptions of authentic leadership, and leaders assessed each follower’s level of creativity. The results show that authentic leadership has a positive impact on affective commitment and creativity. Moreover, affective commitment fully mediates the relationship between perceived authentic leadership and individual creativity. Organizations can thus increase employees’ affective commitment and creativity by encouraging their managers to adopt more authentic leadership styles. Additional studies with larger samples are needed to determine more clearly not only authentic leadership’s influence on individual creativity but also other psychosocial and personal variables’ effects on that relationship.

How transformational leadership predicts employees’ affective commitment and performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of transformational leadership (TL) on employees’ individual performance (IP) through the mediating role of affective commitment (AC). More specifically, it aims to understand how TL relates to employees’ AC, TL relates to employees’ IP, employees’ AC relates to IP and employees’ AC mediates the relationship between TL and employees’ IP.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 476 Turkish healthcare professionals participated in this study. The mediation effect of AC in the relationship between TL and employees’ IP was tested by structural equation modeling.

Findings

The results indicate that AC mediates the relationship between TL and employees’ IP. In others words, transformational leaders promote employees’ AC which, in turn, increases their IP.

Practical implications

This study suggests that organizations should select, develop and invest in leaders who adopt a TL style because they build a climate of admiration, loyalty, respect, participation and involvement for employees which will in turn enhance their commitment and performance.

Originality/value

This study responds to calls for research studies to explore the mediating mechanism in the TL process (Judge et al., 2006), as the mediation effects explain the conditions in which TL is related to the favorable outcomes.

How authentic leadership promotes individual performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to provide a more comprehensive understanding of how authentic leadership (AL) can affect individual performance through creativity and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)’s mediating roles.

Design/methodology/approach

The sample included 177 leader-follower dyads from 26 private and small and medium-sized organizations. Followers reported their perceptions of AL, and leaders assessed each follower’s level of creativity, individual performance and OCB.

Findings

The findings show that AL has a positive impact on OCB (i.e. altruism, sportsmanship, civic virtue, conscientiousness and courtesy), employee creativity, and individual performance. Creativity partially mediates the relationship between AL and individual performance. Some dimensions of OCB, namely, altruism, civic virtue and courtesy, also play a mediating role in this relationship.

Research limitations/implications

Additional studies with larger samples are needed to determine more clearly not only AL’s influence on individual performance but also other psychosocial variables affecting that relationship.

Practical implications

Organizations can increase employees’ creativity, OCB and individual performance by encouraging managers to adopt more AL styles.

Originality/value

This study is the first to integrate AL, creativity, OCB and individual performance into a single research model, thereby extending previous research. The study also used a double-source method to collect data (i.e. leader-follower dyads) to minimize the risk of introducing common-method variance.

Worse-off than others? Abusive supervision’s effects in teams

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine how relative abusive supervision (i.e. team member’s perceived abusive supervision as compared with the team mean) influences team member’s job attitudes through the mediating role of relative leader–member exchange. This study also explores the cross-level moderating roles of team-level abusive supervision and team-level leader–member exchange (LMX) in the process.

Design/methodology/approach

This study used two-wave data from 1,479 employees in 145 work teams, and tested a cross-level moderated mediation model using multilevel structural equation modeling.

Findings

Results demonstrate that the negative indirect effects of relative abusive supervision on job satisfaction and team affective commitment through relative LMX are stronger when team-level abusive supervision is low rather than high.

Originality/value

Integrating LMX theory with a relative deprivation perspective, this study conceptualizes and operationalizes relative abusive supervision, develops an individual-within-group model of abusive supervision’s consequences in teams and demonstrates a cross-level moderating effect of team-level abusive supervision in buffering relative abusive supervision’s negative consequences.

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

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the individual and contextual antecedents of authentic leadership (AL) proposed in the authentic leadership development (ALD) theory.

Design/methodology/approach

Survey data were collected from 74 leaders from two Midwestern organizations. Surveys were used to collect AL, psychological capital (PsyCap), and psychological climate data. Hierarchical regression was used to analyze the data.

Findings

Results support PsyCap, and to a lesser extent psychological climate, as antecedents of AL. Organizations that desire to increase leader authenticity and realize its many favorable outcomes should emphasize the development of leaders’ PsyCap hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism.

Originality/value

This was the first study to examine the antecedents of AL, which can be personal (PsyCap) or contextual (psychological climate).

The relationship between authentic leaders and employees’ creativity

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate how authentic leadership (AL) predicts creativity both directly and through the mediating role of affective commitment (AC) and job resourcefulness (JR).

Design/methodology/approach

Data collected from a questionnaire administered to a sample of 543 employees have been analyzed. The model was tested using structural equation modeling.

Findings

The findings show that AL predicts AC, JR and creativity. The findings also show that AC and JR predict creativity. In other words, leaders’ authenticity increases employees’ creative spirit and, thus, employees’ ability to overcome obstacles and meet challenges at work and their emotional bond play an important role (mediators) in this relationship.

Practical implications

The results of this study are conclusive and contribute to a better understanding of AL and its implication for employees’ emotional bond, their ability to overcome obstacles and their ability to introduce new and useful ideas. This study provides evidence that organizations should focus on training leaders with authentic characteristics.

Originality/value

This study considers both AC and JR as mediators of the relationship between AL and creativity. Therefore, the originality of this study lies in the integration of these four concepts in a single study to provide a model that depicts the chain of effects between AL, AC, JR and an employee’s creativity.

Authentic leadership and performance: the mediating role of employees’ affective commitment

Purpose

This study aims to examine the relationship between authentic leadership (AL), affective commitment and individual performance. More specifically, this study aims to understand how AL influences employees’ affective commitment, how AL influences individual performance, how affective commitment influences individual performance and how affective commitment mediates the relationship between AL and individual performance.

Design/methodology/approach

In total, 212 Portuguese employees participated in this study. A quantitative methodology was used. Baron and Kenny’s linear regression method and Sobel test were used to test the mediation relationship.

Findings

The results reveal that affective commitment mediates the relationship between AL and employees’ performance. In others words, leaders’ authenticity promotes employees’ affective commitment, which, in turn, increases their individual performance.

Practical implications

This research has practical implications for human resource management in organizations, particularly in selection processes and training of leaders and managers. Practitioners looking to increase employee commitment and performance can do so by augmenting the AL.

Originality/value

This study enriches the knowledge about the relevance of emerging areas such as AL theory and responds to the need to understand underlying mechanisms linking AL with workers’ commitment and performance (i.e. testing the construct’s nomological network).

Authentic leadership and creativity: the mediating role of happiness

Purpose

Authentic leadership (AL) as a style can influence, directly or indirectly, employees’ attitudes and behaviors. In this perspective, the purpose of this study is to investigate how AL predicts affective well-being (AWB) and employees’ creativity. The mediating role of AWB and the moderating role of satisfaction with management will be analyzed.

Design/methodology/approach

The researchers have analyzed the data from a questionnaire administered to a sample of 543 employees belonging to various public and private organizations in Cape Verde. Structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed hypotheses and a multi-group analysis was performed to identify how the level of satisfaction with the management may impact the proposed relationships.

Findings

The results of this study reveal that perceptions of AL predict employees’ creativity both directly and through the mediating role of AWB. Satisfaction with the management seems to moderate the relationship between AL, AWB and creativity.

Practical implications

The research outcomes suggest that organizations should focus on training leaders who value self-awareness and transparency in their relationships with others, who display an internal moral perspective and demonstrate balanced processing of information, to guarantee good results at the individual level and, consequently, at the organizational level. This study provides practitioners with possible routes to act in favor of a much happier and more creative workforce.

Originality/value

The originality of this study is because of the integration of these four concepts in a single study, providing evidence of the relationship between AL and creativity through the mediating role of AWB and moderating role of satisfaction with the management.

Adaptation versus authenticity

Previous research on leader effectiveness in intercultural encounters has focused on the ‘cultural congruence proposition’ which indicates that leaders from one culture encountering followers from a different culture should modify their behaviour away from their own values towards the collective values of the followers in order to enhance their effectiveness. This proposition appears to contradict the basic tenets of authentic leadership theory which indicate that effective leaders align their behaviour strictly with their own values. This article proposes a theoretical model which draws upon each perspective and integrates them to reconcile this apparent conflict. The model suggests that effective cross-cultural leaders use both self-regulation and their cultural intelligence to engender optimum ratings from their followers.

Effects of authentic leadership, affective commitment and job resourcefulness on employees’ creativity and individual performance

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study examining the relationship between authentic leadership (AL), attitudes and employees’ behaviours. More specifically, how AL influences affective commitment, job resourcefulness and creativity, which, in turn, influence individual performance.

Design/methodology/approach

Empirical research has analysed the data from a questionnaire administered to a sample of 543 employees belonging to various public and private organisations in Cape Verde. The model was tested using structural equation modelling.

Findings

The results reveal that AL influences employees’ attitudes (affective commitment and job resourcefulness) and their creativity, affective commitment and job resourcefulness predict the employees’ creativity, and job resourcefulness and creativity predict individual performance.

Practical implications

The results from this study can help managers to understand how to increase employees’ creativity and performance through AL, affective commitment and job resourcefulness. Indirectly, the study also suggests that organisations should focus on selecting leaders with authentic features and implement appropriate training activities, coaching and development that aim to increase AL since this may well result in a positive impact on employees’ attitudes and behaviours.

Originality/value

The originality of this study is that it focusses on the integration of the five concepts, AL, affective commitment, job resourcefulness, creativity and individual performance, in a single study, providing a model that depicts the chain of effects between AL, employees’ attitudes, employees’ creativity and individual performance.

Authentic leadership for teacher’s academic optimism

Purpose

This study aims to analyse the impact of authentic leadership (AL) on academic optimism (AO) through the mediating role of affective commitment (AC). As this study also examines the moderating role of training comprehensiveness (TC) in strengthening the relation between AC and AO.

Design/methodology/approach

Data were collected from school teachers and their immediate principal and were further analysed through confirmatory factor analysis and hierarchical regression analysis.

Findings

Data analysis provided significant support to the hypotheses presented in the study. AC partially mediated the link between AL and AO, and TC moderated the linkage between AC and AO significantly.

Originality/value

This study provides novel basis to improve the overall functioning of schools and teachers’ performance. It provides ways to improve the overall AO in Indian schools.

Authentic leadership and employee knowledge sharing behavior

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to explore the relations of authentic leadership (AL) with employee knowledge sharing behavior and intervening processes.

Design/methodology/approach

– A correlational study is presented with a sample of 562 workers belonging to diverse Spanish organizations.

Findings

– The results obtained by means of multiple regression analysis showed positive associations of AL on employees’ knowledge sharing behavior. Specifically, the effect on these employee behaviors was fully mediated by the group innovation climate, and partially by their identification with the workgroup.

Research limitations/implications

– Future works should study this association in depth and examine possible differential relationships of AL on diverse types employee knowledge, explicit, and implicit, proposed by Nonaka and Takeuchi (1995).

Practical implications

– The study indicates the type of leadership that should be developed in organizations, and the type of processes and environments to foster in the work units to stimulate acts of sharing knowledge among the members.

Originality/value

– This is the first study examining innovation group climate and workgroup identification as mediators between AL with employee knowledge sharing behavior.

Authentic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour in the public health care sector: The role of workplace trust

Orientation: The orientation of this study was towards authentic leadership and its influence on workplace trust and organisational citizenship behaviour in the public health care sector.Research purpose: The aim of this study was to investigate the influence of authentic leadership on organisational citizenship behaviour, through workplace trust among public health care employees in South Africa. The objective was to determine whether authentic leadership affects organisational citizenship behaviour through workplace trust (conceptualised as trust in the organisation, immediate supervisor and co-workers).Motivation for the study: Employees in the public health care industry are currently being faced with a demanding work environment which includes a lack of trust in leadership. This necessitated the need to determine whether authentic leadership ultimately leads to extra-role behaviours via workplace trust in its three referents.Research design, approach and method: A quantitative cross-sectional survey design was used with employees the public health care sector in South Africa (N = 633). The Authentic Leadership Inventory, Workplace Trust Survey and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour Scale were administered to these participants.Main findings: The results indicated that authentic leadership has a significant influence on trust in all three referents, namely the organisation, the supervisor and co-workers. Both trust in the organisation and trust in co-workers positively influenced organisational citizenship behaviour. Conversely, authentic leadership did not have a significant influence on organisational citizenship behaviour. Finally, authentic leadership had a significant indirect effect on organisational citizenship behaviour through trust in the organisation and trust in co-workers. Trust in the organisation was found to have the strongest indirect effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and organisational citizenship behaviour.Practical/managerial implications: The main findings suggest that public health care institutions would benefit if leaders are encouraged to be more authentic as this might result in increases in both trust among co-workers and in the organisation. Consequently, employees might be more likely to exert additional effort in their work.Contribution/value-add: Limited empirical evidence exists with regard to the relationship between authentic leadership, workplace trust in its three referents and organisational citizenship behaviour. This study aimed to contribute to the limited number of studies conducted.

Modeling Team Performance

Drawing on social identity theory and conflict theory, this study develops a research model that explains the development of team performance. In the model, team performance is indirectly related to authentic leadership and empathy via the full mediation of team identity and relationship conflict. Meanwhile, the positive relationship between team identity and team performance and the negative relationship between relationship conflict and team performance are hypothetically moderated by passion. Empirical testing of this model, by investigating team personnel from high-tech firms, confirms the integrative applicability of social identity theory and conflict theory for improving team performance. Last, the managerial implications and limitations of this study based on its empirical findings are provided.

Virtue theory and organizational behavior: an integrative framework

Purpose

– The purpose of this paper is to provide a functional framework encapsulating a wide range of contributions to the ongoing debate on virtue as a critical dimension of contemporary organizations. In so doing, the authors elaborate and develop an encompassing framework that is in a position to capture the diversity of research in this very field.

Design/methodology/approach

– Extant literature on virtue in organizational settings is properly categorized through a taxonomy articulated around the potential foci, as well as loci of virtuous behavior. Virtuousness denotes an ethical attribute of managers, leaders or employees and as such, it may be situated at the micro-individual, meso-organizational or macro-societal level, respectively.

Findings

– Based on the potential foci and loci of virtuous behavior, the paper differentiates between virtuous managerial, leaders’ and employees’ attitudes on one hand, and virtuous management and leadership development, as well as virtuous employee training on the other. Furthermore, ethically grounded managerial initiatives and leaders’ responsibilities to further the common good are entwined with endeavors to transform employees into virtuous corporate citizens affirming organizational ethicality.

Practical implications

– By identifying both targeted group and level of analysis, organizations can effectively design and implement interventions promoting virtuousness as a valued end in itself.

Originality/value

– The paper introduces a framework that can help integrate varying trends on organizational virtuousness that substantially differ in terms of both scope and perspective. In addition, the taxonomy will facilitate both researchers and practitioners to better navigate into the dispersed, and ultimately fragmented streams of literature on the role of virtue in business environments.

A Holistic View of Employee Coaching

This study uses regulatory focus theory to take a holistic perspective on employee coaching. The contrasting effects of facilitative versus pressure-based coaching on changes in team effectiveness were examined over a 54-month period of time. Results of growth curve analysis on a sample of 714 managers and their teams indicated that facilitative and pressure-based coaching had opposing direct and indirect effects on long-term changes in team performance, with team commitment playing a critical role in this process. Specifically, facilitative coaching positively influenced team commitment and, in turn, team effectiveness. In contrast, pressure-based coaching hindered team functioning by negatively influencing team commitment through heightened levels of tension within the team. Limitations and areas for future research are discussed.

A Multilevel Framework

This article reviews the literature on the micro (i.e., individual level) and macro levels (i.e., organizational level) of positive behavior to propose a framework that includes seven levels of positive behaviors—individual, dyadic, team/group, organizational, community, societal, and environmental levels. The micro level of positive organizational behavior is extended from the individual level to include the dyadic and team/group levels. The macro level of positive organizational scholarship is extended from the organizational level to include the community, societal, and environmental levels. The role of leadership as antecedents to positive behaviors is also developed. Three positive forms of leadership (i.e., transformational leadership, servant leadership, and authentic leadership) are used as antecedents, and the potential multilevel outcomes associated with positive behavior are explored. This article provides testable propositions and sets the stage for future empirical research.