A Multi-level Investigation of Authentic Leadership as an Antecedent of Helping Behavior

TY - JOUR

T1 - A Multi-level Investigation of Authentic Leadership as an Antecedent of Helping Behavior

AU - Hirst, Giles

AU - Walumbwa, Fred

AU - Aryee, Samuel

AU - Butarbutar, Ivan

AU - Chen, Chin Jeffery Hui

PY - 2015/2/22

Y1 - 2015/2/22

N2 - We develop and test a trickle-down model of how authentic leadership at the department level flows down the organizational hierarchy to encourage team leader authentic leadership and consequently, promotes team and individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Analyses of multi-level and multi-source data collected from a total of 487 employees comprising 122 teams, 47 departments, and 4 different working areas of a major public sector organization in Taiwan show that team leaders’ authentic leadership mediates the relationship between departmental authentic leadership and individual-level leader–member exchange (LMX). We also found that intra-team trust completely mediates the influence of team authentic leadership on both team helping behavior and individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Finally, the results reveal that self-concordance mediates the influence of team authentic leadership on individual-level supervisor helping behavior as well as the influence of individual-level LMX on individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

AB - We develop and test a trickle-down model of how authentic leadership at the department level flows down the organizational hierarchy to encourage team leader authentic leadership and consequently, promotes team and individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Analyses of multi-level and multi-source data collected from a total of 487 employees comprising 122 teams, 47 departments, and 4 different working areas of a major public sector organization in Taiwan show that team leaders’ authentic leadership mediates the relationship between departmental authentic leadership and individual-level leader–member exchange (LMX). We also found that intra-team trust completely mediates the influence of team authentic leadership on both team helping behavior and individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Finally, the results reveal that self-concordance mediates the influence of team authentic leadership on individual-level supervisor helping behavior as well as the influence of individual-level LMX on individual-level supervisor-directed helping behavior. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are discussed.

KW - Authentic leadership

KW - Helping behavior

KW - Leader–member exchange

KW - Multi-level

KW - Self-concordance

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/84923253944

U2 - 10.1007/s10551-015-2580-x

DO - 10.1007/s10551-015-2580-x

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:84923253944

SN - 0167-4544

JO - JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS

JF - JOURNAL OF BUSINESS ETHICS

ER -