Effect of Authentic Leadership on Work outcomes: Mediating role of psychological empowerment in telecommunication sector operating in Peshawar

Abstract

The purpose of the study was to find out the relationship between authentic leadership and employee work outcomes i.e. employee’s creativity, affective commitment, innovation and the main contribution in this was to introduce the mediating mechanism (psychological empowerment) through which authentic leadership is related to different outcomes. A quantitative approach was used to test the hypothesis and data was collected through standardized questionnaires from different employees of the telecom sector in Peshawar. A total number of respondents in this study was 186. This study shows a significant relationship between authentic leadership and creativity and the insignificant relationship between authentic leadership with affective commitment and innovation, thus hypotheses 1 supported and hypotheses 2 and 3 was not supported. This study aims that authentic leadership has a strong and significant correlation with employee’s creativity but the insignificant correlation with affective commitment and innovation. Psychological empowerment has also a strong positive and significant correlation with creativity, affective commitment, and innovation. The present study also reveals that there is a strong and significant relationship between authentic leadership and psychological empowerment. The study found that psychological empowerment significantly mediates the relationship between authentic leadership, creativity, and innovation. Psychological empowerment partially mediates the relationship between authentic leadership with creativity while fully mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and innovation. Psychological empowerment does not mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and affective commitment. Thus hypotheses 6, and hypotheses 8 consider it was supported that psychological empowerment significantly mediates the relationship between authentic leadership and creativity, innovation.