Purpose The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a study examining the relationship between authentic leadership (AL), attitudes and employees’ behaviours. More specifically, how AL influences affective commitment, job resourcefulness and creativity, which, in turn, influence individual performance. Design/methodology/approach Empirical research has analysed the data from a questionnaire administered to a sample of 543 employees belonging to various public and private organisations in Cape Verde. The model was tested using structural equation modelling. Findings The results reveal that AL influences employees’ attitudes (affective commitment and job resourcefulness) and their creativity, affective commitment and job resourcefulness predict the employees’ creativity, and job resourcefulness and creativity predict individual performance. Practical implications The results from this study can help managers to understand how to increase employees’ creativity and performance through AL, affective commitment and job resourcefulness. Indirectly, the study also suggests that organisations should focus on selecting leaders with authentic features and implement appropriate training activities, coaching and development that aim to increase AL since this may well result in a positive impact on employees’ attitudes and behaviours. Originality/value The originality of this study is that it focusses on the integration of the five concepts, AL, affective commitment, job resourcefulness, creativity and individual performance, in a single study, providing a model that depicts the chain of effects between AL, employees’ attitudes, employees’ creativity and individual performance.

This study aims to investigate the relationship between perceptions of authentic leadership (AL) and affective commitment (AC) both directly and indirectly through the mediating effect of happiness at work. Design/methodology/approach Empirical research has analyzed the data from a questionnaire administered to a sample of five hundred forty-three employees belonging to various public and private organizations in Cape Verde. Structural Equation Modeling was used to test the model. Findings It was found that the perceptions of AL explain employees' happiness at work. Perceptions of AL also predict AC both directly and through the mediating effect of happiness at work. Practical implications The findings suggest that AL predicts happiness at work, which in turn, explain employees` emotional bond to the organization. These results provide evidence that the quality of working environment created by leaders plays an important role in the extent to which employees develop better emotional bond at work. So, the organizations, particularly in Cape Verde should focus on training leaders with authentic characteristics. Originality/value In addition to verifying the direct relationship between AL and AC, this study introduced the mediating effect of the happiness at work, providing a model that depicts the chain effect between AL, AC and happiness, integrating these concepts in a single study.

Purpose Authentic leadership (AL) as a style can influence, directly or indirectly, employees’ attitudes and behaviors. In this perspective, the purpose of this study is to investigate how AL predicts affective well-being (AWB) and employees’ creativity. The mediating role of AWB and the moderating role of satisfaction with management will be analyzed. Design/methodology/approach The researchers have analyzed the data from a questionnaire administered to a sample of 543 employees belonging to various public and private organizations in Cape Verde. Structural equation modelling was used to test the proposed hypotheses and a multi-group analysis was performed to identify how the level of satisfaction with the management may impact the proposed relationships. Findings The results of this study reveal that perceptions of AL predict employees’ creativity both directly and through the mediating role of AWB. Satisfaction with the management seems to moderate the relationship between AL, AWB and creativity. Practical implications The research outcomes suggest that organizations should focus on training leaders who value self-awareness and transparency in their relationships with others, who display an internal moral perspective and demonstrate balanced processing of information, to guarantee good results at the individual level and, consequently, at the organizational level. This study provides practitioners with possible routes to act in favor of a much happier and more creative workforce. Originality/value The originality of this study is because of the integration of these four concepts in a single study, providing evidence of the relationship between AL and creativity through the mediating role of AWB and moderating role of satisfaction with the management.

Authentic leadership has become increasingly important in the literature, attracting the attention of many scholars in the last decade. This study adopted an employee-centered perspective to guide its examination of the relationship between authentic leadership and individual performance and investigation of the sequential mediation of employees’ affective commitment and individual creativity. An analysis was conducted of data collected from 214 employees working in different business sectors. The results reveal a statistically significant positive relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ workplace performance, which are both directly connected and indirectly linked through the two proposed psychosocial mechanisms. The findings thus indicate that authentic leadership reinforces workers’ emotional connection with their organizations, thereby increasing their individual creativity and, subsequently, promoting better on-the-job performance. This study presents new and significant results since, on the one hand, it relied on a sequential mediation analysis of variables and, on the other hand, integrated the four main constructs into a single model. The proposed model displays the chain of effects between authentic leadership, affective commitment, individual creativity, and employee workplace performance. Implications for organizational management are discussed.