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Authentic Leadership and Employee Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Attachment Insecurity

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  • Fariborz Rahimnia
  • Mohammad Sharifirad

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between authentic leadership and the three dimensions of employee well-being (job satisfaction, perceived work stress, and stress symptoms). Furthermore, attachment insecurity was considered as a mediating factor between authentic leadership and the three dimensions of employee well-being. Data were obtained from a field sample of 212 health care providers with patient contact at five hospitals in the North East of Iran. Initially, collected data were analyzed with multiple confirmatory factor analyses. Then, structural equation modeling was applied to test proposed hypotheses. First, it was shown that authentic leadership negatively impacted attachment insecurity. Second, attachment insecurity proved to be a factor impinging upon job satisfaction. On the contrary, higher levels of attachment insecurity was associated with higher levels of perceived stress and stress symptoms. Third, it was revealed that attachment insecurity partially mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction and fully mediated the relationship between authentic leadership, perceived stress, and stress symptoms. According to the literature of authentic leadership, this is one of the first research studies, and literally the first in the East exploring the effects of authentic leadership on the exclusive combination of dimensions offered in this paper. Moreover, researchers in the field of management have not delved enough into attachment and its antecedents and consequences in leader–follower relationship. This is one of the first studies to provide evidence of the relationship between authentic leadership, attachment security and employee well-being. As a further analysis, the final model was separately put under the two different lens of gender (female and male) and some interesting findings were discussed in the discussion. Copyright Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2015

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  • Fariborz Rahimnia & Mohammad Sharifirad, 2015. "Authentic Leadership and Employee Well-Being: The Mediating Role of Attachment Insecurity," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 132(2), pages 363-377, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:kap:jbuset:v:132:y:2015:i:2:p:363-377
    DOI: 10.1007/s10551-014-2318-1
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    Cited by:

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    2. Nidhi Yadav & Shikha Dixit, 2017. "Authentic Leadership and Employees’ Work-related Quality of Life: A Study of IT Organizations in India," International Journal of Business and Management, Canadian Center of Science and Education, vol. 12(4), pages 222-222, March.
    3. Luu, Tuan, 2019. "Relationship between benevolent leadership and the well-being among employees with disabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 99(C), pages 282-294.
    4. Jeremy B. Bernerth, 2022. "Does the Narcissist (and Those Around Him/Her) Pay a Price for Being Narcissistic? An Empirical Study of Leaders’ Narcissism and Well-Being," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 177(3), pages 533-546, May.
    5. Tomasz Gigol, 2020. "Influence of Authentic Leadership on Unethical Pro-Organizational Behavior: The Intermediate Role of Work Engagement," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-14, February.
    6. Adnan Celik & Tahir Akgemci & Turgut Emre Akyazi, 2016. "A Comparison between the Styles of Transformational Leaders and Authentic Leaders in Crisis Management," International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, Human Resource Management Academic Research Society, International Journal of Academic Research in Business and Social Sciences, vol. 6(2), pages 183-196, February.
    7. Jie He & Alastair M. Morrison & Hao Zhang, 2019. "Improving Millennial Employee Well-Being and Task Performance in the Hospitality Industry: The Interactive Effects of HRM and Responsible Leadership," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(16), pages 1-19, August.
    8. Orlando C. Richard & O. Dorian Boncoeur & Hao Chen & David L. Ford, 2020. "Supervisor Abuse Effects on Subordinate Turnover Intentions and Subsequent Interpersonal Aggression: The Role of Power-Distance Orientation and Perceived Human Resource Support Climate," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 164(3), pages 549-563, July.
    9. Yuanmei Elly Qu & Marie T. Dasborough & Mi Zhou & Gergana Todorova, 2019. "Should Authentic Leaders Value Power? A Study of Leaders’ Values and Perceived Value Congruence," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 156(4), pages 1027-1044, June.

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