Chapter 3
SOCIAL BEHAVIOR AND PERSONALITY, 2013, 41(4), 613-624 © Society for Personality Research http://dx.doi.org/10.2224/sbp.2013.41.4.613
THE EFFECT OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE TRUST AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
DAN-SHANG WANG AND CHIA-CHUN HSIEH National Changhua University of Education
In this study we examined the effect of authentic leadership on employee engagement through employee trust. We collected data from 386 employees in the top 1,000 manufacturing companies and the top 500 service companies in Taiwan. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to test the hypotheses. The results showed that both supervisors’ consistency between words and actions as well as their moral perceptions are positively related to employee engagement, while only supervisors’ consistency between words and actions is positively related to employee trust. Moreover, employee trust was shown to be positively related to employee engagement. Finally, employee trust was found to have a partial mediating effect between authentic leadership and employee engagement. Keywords: authentic leadership, employee trust, employee engagement, moral perceptions, Taiwan.
Today’s global environment continuously undergoes rapid changes, enterprises experience ethical meltdowns, and organizations face a multitude of challenging and turbulent problems. It is therefore increasingly evident that enterprises need a new kind of business leader in this, the 21st century (George, Sims, McLean, & Mayer, 2007). Specifically, organizations need leaders who lead with purpose, have strong values and integrity, who are able to create enduring organizations, and who motivate their employees to provide better customer service (George, 2003). In both Eastern and Western societies, integrity and authenticity are considered as two of the most important societal values (George et al., 2007; Wang, 2010). Kouzes and Posner (2002) found that the most
Dan-Shang Wang and Chia-Chun Hsieh, Graduate Institute of
THE EFFECT OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP ON EMPLOYEE TRUST AND EMPLOYEE ENGAGEMENT
DAN-SHANG WANG AND CHIA-CHUN HSIEH National Changhua University of Education
In this study we examined the effect of authentic leadership on employee engagement through employee trust. We collected data from 386 employees in the top 1,000 manufacturing companies and the top 500 service companies in Taiwan. Hierarchical multiple regression was employed to test the hypotheses. The results showed that both supervisors’ consistency between words and actions as well as their moral perceptions are positively related to employee engagement, while only supervisors’ consistency between words and actions is positively related to employee trust. Moreover, employee trust was shown to be positively related to employee engagement. Finally, employee trust was found to have a partial mediating effect between authentic leadership and employee engagement. Keywords: authentic leadership, employee trust, employee engagement, moral perceptions, Taiwan.
Today’s global environment continuously undergoes rapid changes, enterprises experience ethical meltdowns, and organizations face a multitude of challenging and turbulent problems. It is therefore increasingly evident that enterprises need a new kind of business leader in this, the 21st century (George, Sims, McLean, & Mayer, 2007). Specifically, organizations need leaders who lead with purpose, have strong values and integrity, who are able to create enduring organizations, and who motivate their employees to provide better customer service (George, 2003). In both Eastern and Western societies, integrity and authenticity are considered as two of the most important societal values (George et al., 2007; Wang, 2010). Kouzes and Posner (2002) found that the most
Dan-Shang Wang and Chia-Chun Hsieh, Graduate Institute of
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