Authentic Leadership, Trust, and Social Exchange Relationships under the Influence of Leader Behavior

Abstract

During the pandemic, government policies such as social distancing and telework have impacted trust and working or social exchange relationships in the workplace. The behavior of leaders is critical for good leadership, employees’ trust, and social exchange relationships. Therefore, the main objective of this study was to assess the associations among authentic leadership, trust, and social exchange relationships under the influence of leader behavior. A regression-based approach was used to test the moderating and mediating effects. The results show that authentic leadership positively impacts trust and social exchange relationships, whereas trust directly affects social exchange relationships. During COVID-19, leader behaviors with ability, ethics, and positive relationships have had a positive impact on the association between authentic leadership, trust, and social exchange relationships. Additionally, trust positively mediates authentic leadership and social exchange relationships. The findings of this paper suggest that authentic leadership promotes trust and high-quality social exchange relationships. Moreover, based on leader behaviors during COVID-19, the ability to manage change effectively, boost employees’ work motivation, provide support, and take appropriate action is essential for authentic leadership to increase trust and foster a positive working relationship based on social exchange. Finally, regarding social exchange theory, high-quality leader behaviors and the leader–follower relationships drive positive associations among variables. These results will help organizational management teams to find methods to improve their organizational working relationships. The implication is that the abilities, ethics, and supportive and positive relationship behaviors of leaders are essential for effective management to improve leadership, trust, and social exchange relationships. Leaders should have the ability to manage work and people, even with teleworkers. Therefore, leader behaviors are important to maintain organizational sustainability. Further discussion on theoretical and practical implications is provided in the section.