Impact of Authentic Leadership on Follower Performance: a Multilevel Study

Abstract

Previous studies on the positive role of authentic leadership (AL) lacked systematic cross-level investigations. In this study, 102 team leaders and 697 team members from local companies in China were used as subjects both to investigate the influence mechanism of AL at both the individual and team levels and to explore the cross-level relationship between the two levels. The results show that at the individual level, the leader-member exchange relationship plays a mediating role between individual-oriented AL behavior and an individual’s performance. At the team level, the team’s atmosphere plays a mediating role between team-oriented AL behavior and the individual’s performance. This study has important implications for the theory of leadership behavior and leadership practice.