Authentic Leadership and Employee Engagement in the American Workplaces
Abstract
Leaders are very important in any of the business entity and over years, many researchers have analyzed the roles played by them in an organization. Authentic leadership encourages self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and Internalized moral perspective of information and the relations with respect to the leaders working with their subordinates, consequently cultivating positive self-improvement. This study related the idea of authentic leadership in refining employee engagement. The concepts of authentic leadership incorporate self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and relational transparency. An extensive literature review was done to infer the findings, conclusions, and recommendations. In perspective on the assessed review, authentic leadership positively affect and employee engagement. There was a significant and positive connection between authentic leadership, work fulfilment and employee engagement. Numerous studies concluded that teams with more authentic characteristics in their leaders, had more satisfied and engaged employees. The influential mentors were perceived as authentic leaders who acted within dimensions that were consistent with authentic leadership theory: self-awareness, relational transparency, balanced processing and internalized moral perspective. Employee engagement is positively influenced by quality employee organization relationships and positive internal reputation. Results showed that both leader's consistency between words and actions as well as their balanced processing are positively related to employee engagement. As an antecedent, authentic leadership critically affects the nurturing of an organization's transparency and positive employee relational outcomes, which, in turn, enhance reputation and thus overall performance.
Keywords: Authentic Leadership, Employee Engagement & American Workplaces.
References
Ashley, G. C., & Reiter-Palmon, R. (2012). Self-awareness and the evolution of leaders: The need for a better measure of self-awareness. Journal of Behavioural and Applied Management, 14(1), 2.
Avolio, B. J., & Gardner, W. L. (2015). Authentic leadership development: Getting to the root of positive forms of leadership. The leadership quarterly, 16(3), 315-338.
Berggren, E., & Bernshteyn, R. (2017). Organizational transparency drives company employee engagement. Journal of Management Development, 26(5), 411-417.
Bratton, V. K., Dodd, N. G., & Brown, F. W. (2011). The impact of emotional intelligence on accuracy of self-awareness and leadership performance. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 32(2), 127-149.
Butler, A. M., Kwantes, C. T., & Boglarsky, C. A. (2014). The effects of self-awareness on perceptions of leadership effectiveness in the hospitality industry: A cross cultural investigation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations, 40, 87-98.
Caldwell, C., & Hayes, L. A. (2016). Self-efficacy and self-awareness: moral insights to increased leader effectiveness. Journal of Management Development, 35(9), 1163-1173.
Condon, R. J. (2011). The Relationship between self-awareness and leadership: Extending measurement and conceptualization.
Gardner, W. L., Cogliser, C. C., Davis, K. M., & Dickens, M. P. (2011). Authentic leadership: A review of the literature and research agenda. The Leadership Quarterly, 22(6), 1120-1145.
Gatling, A. R., Castelli, P. A., & Cole, M. L. (2013). Authentic leadership: the role of self- awareness in promoting coaching effectiveness. Asia-Pacific Journal of Management Research and Innovation, 9(4), 337-347.
Gatling, A., Shum, C., Book, L., & Bai, B. (2017). The influence of hospitality leaders' relational transparency on followers' trust and deviance behaviors: Mediating role of behavioral integrity. International Journal of Hospitality Management, 62, 11-20.
Gilbert, G. R., Myrtle, R. C., & Sohi, R. S. (2015). Relational behavior of leaders: a comparison by vocational context. Journal of Leadership & Organizational Studies, 22(2), 149-160.
Hassan, A., & Ahmed, F. (2011). Authentic leadership, trust and work engagement. International Journal of Human and Social Sciences, 6(3), 164-170.
Houser, D., Levy, D. M., Padgitt, K., Peart, S. J., & Xiao, E. (2014). Raising the price of talk: An experimental analysis of transparent leadership. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, 105, 208-218.
Joo, B. K., & Nimon, K. (2014). Two of a kind? A canonical correlational study of transformational leadership and authentic leadership. European Journal of Training and Development, 38(6), 570-587.
Leroy, H., Anseel, F., Gardner, W. L., & Sels, L. (2015). Authentic leadership, authentic followership, basic need satisfaction, and work role performance: A cross-level study. Journal of Management, 41(6), 1677-1697.
Leroy, H., Anseel, F., Gardner, W. L., & Sels, L. (2015). Authentic leadership, authentic followership, basic need satisfaction, and work role performance: A cross-level study. Journal of Management, 41(6), 1677-1697.
Leroy, H., Palanski, M. E., & Simons, T. (2012). Authentic leadership and behavioral integrity as drivers of follower commitment and performance. Journal of Business Ethics, 107(3), 255- 264.
Luthans, F., Norman, S., & Hughes, L. (2016). Authentic leadership. Inspiring leaders, 84-104.
Men, L. R. (2015). Employee engagement in relation to an employee–organization relationships and internal reputation: effects of leadership communication. Public Relations Journal, 9(2), 1-22.
Neider, L. L., & Schriesheim, C. A. (2011). The authentic leadership inventory (ALI): Development and empirical tests. The leadership quarterly, 22(6), 1146-1164.
Pope, T. Y. (2018). Effects of the Authentic Leadership Style on Job Satisfaction in Subordinate Employees (Doctoral dissertation, Walden University).
Rego, A., Sousa, F., Marques, C., & e Cunha, M. P. (2012). Authentic leadership promoting employees' psychological capital and creativity. Journal of business research, 65(3), 429- 437.
Rubens, A., Schoenfeld, G. A., Schaffer, B. S., & Leah, J. S. (2018). Self-awareness and leadership: Developing an individual strategic professional development plan in an MBA leadership course. The International Journal of Management Education, 16(1), 1-13.
Shapira-Lishchinsky, O., & Levy-Gazenfrantz, T. (2015). Authentic leadership strategies in support of mentoring processes. School Leadership & Management, 35(2), 183-201.
Stander, F. W., De Beer, L. T., & Stander, M. W. (2015). Authentic leadership as a source of optimism, trust in the organization and work engagement in the public health care sector. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 13(1), 1-12.
Vogelgesang, G. R., Leroy, H., & Avolio, B. J. (2013). The mediating effects of leader integrity with transparency in communication and work engagement/performance. The Leadership Quarterly, 24(3), 405-413.
Walumbwa, F. O., Christensen, A. L., & Hailey, F. (2011). Authentic leadership and the knowledge economy: Sustaining motivation and trust among knowledge workers. Organizational Dynamics, 40(2), 110-118.
Walumbwa, F. O., Wang, P., Wang, H., Schaubroeck, J., & Avolio, B. J. (2014). “Psychological processes linking authentic leadership to follower behaviours": Retraction.
Wang, D. S., & Hsieh, C. C. (2013). The effect of authentic leadership on employee trust and employee engagement. Social Behaviour and Personality: an international journal, 41(4), 613-624.
