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

Giles Hirst (), Fred Walumbwa, Samuel Aryee, Ivan Butarbutar and Chin Jeffery Hui Chen
Additional contact information
Giles Hirst: Australian National University
Fred Walumbwa: Florida International University
Samuel Aryee: Kings College
Ivan Butarbutar: Monash University
Chin Jeffery Hui Chen: Taiwan Customs

Journal of Business Ethics, 2016, vol. 139, issue 3, No 5, 485-499

Abstract: Abstract 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.

Keywords: Authentic leadership; Leader–member exchange; Self-concordance; Helping behavior; Multi-level (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (7)

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DOI: 10.1007/s10551-015-2580-x

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