Do they [all] see my true self? Leader's relational authenticity and followers' assessments of transformational leadership

Abstract

Responding to calls for a more positive and holistic perspective on leadership, Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, and Walumbwa (2005), Ilies, Morgeson, and Nahrgang (2005), and Luthans and Avolio (2003) have discussed the concept of authentic leadership. However, up to this point, little is known on how leader authenticity influences leader relationships with followers. Consistent with the overall theme of this special issue, we seek to fill this gap by investigating empirically how leader authenticity predicts transformational leadership behaviours. Specifically, we focus on relational authenticity as a component of authenticity because it has been argued to be particularly salient for interpersonal relationships (Ilies et al., 2005). We further propose that leader authenticity is associated with a greater convergence of followers' perceptions of transformational leadership behaviours. Finally, we predict that not all group members will be influenced by leader authenticity to the same extent. Instead, we hypothesize and find that more critical group members are especially likely to be positively influenced by leader authenticity.