Authentic leadership: unleashing employee creativity through empowerment and commitment to the supervisor

Abstract

PurposeThe increasing interest of organizations to innovate and survive in the market, combined with a decreasing level of trust in their leaders, has now led thinkers and researchers to begin exploring beyond traditional leadership theories. The literature indicates that, due to the lack of a strong and explicit moral dimension, positive leadership may be incomplete. The purpose of this study is to understand the creativity mechanism that is fostered by authentic leadership through empowerment and commitment to the supervisor.Design/methodology/approachThe data of 214 employees were collected from the strategic units (product generation, customer services, marketing and sales) of all five telecoms which are currently operating in Pakistan. The parallel mediation model was used to analyze the hypothesized model.FindingsResults confirmed that authentic leadership leverages creativity. Mediation results further confirmed that creativity increases when employees feel empowered and are committed to an authentic leader. However, contrast analysis indicated that empowerment has a stronger role in increasing creativity.Research limitations/implicationsNot limited to theoretical debate, the present study emphasized that organizations improve creativity by adopting a management model which delivers moral values along with an efficient, transparent system and empowered culture. Managers should be trained to develop authentic traits so that they can then identify and address critical areas which will serve to nurture creative and innovative behavior in their followers.Originality/valueAuthentic leadership is an emerging concept, yet debate on authentic leadership and creativity is in the establishment phase. The present study highlights that authentic leadership is not simply a consequence of success or the development of a pool of loyal subordinates; rather, empowered leadership at all levels is at the heart of a successful organization.

The nexus of transactional leadership, knowledge sharing behavior and organizational creativity: empirical evidence from construction workers in Jakarta

“…Additionally, numerous studies have been accomplished on more intensive leadership theories, such as transformational leadership theories (Al Harbi et al, 2019;Qu et al, 2015), democratic (Raelin, 2012), authentic (Imam et al, 2020), charismatic (Paulsen et al, 2009) and other or isolated leader behavior (Hussain et al, 2017).…”

Understanding Authentic Leadership Style: The Satya Nadella Microsoft Approach

“…Authentic Leadership maximize the performance of followers and leads to positive work-related outcomes (Ribeiro, Gomes, & Kurian, 2018b;Azanza, Gorgievski, Moriano, & Molero 2018;Imam, Naqvi, Naqvi, & Chambel, 2020). Authentic leader transparency in his decisions develops follower's commitment and builds strong attachments to the organization (Rukh, Shahrukh, & Iqbal, 2018;Hlongwane & Olivier, 2017).…”

The Art of Making Workplace Innovative: Conceptual Integration of Leader-Member Exchange, Workplace Innovation and Employee Creativity

“…Leaders play a significant role in improving their employees' creativity and innovation to improve their performance (Jyoti & Dev, 2015). The leaders should draft a systematic approach and mechanism to enhance creativity and innovation; indeed, leader-member exchange (LXM) could be a crucial factor in this regard (Imam, Naqvi, Naqvi, & Chambel, 2020;Pan, Sun, & Lam, 2020;Tierney, 2008). The primary objective of every venture is to earn a higher profit and to achieve this purpose, ventures need to be more creative and innovative.…”

“…This study contributes to the literature about LMX, employee creativity and workplace innovation by extracting and linking the relationships already found in the existing literature. Past studies investigated the leader's effect on creativity and innovation (Imam et al, 2020;Tierney, 2008), yet arguments lack how leaders can become essential predictors of employee creativity and workplace innovation. Leaders need to learn how to create an environment of innovation and creativity for employees to enhance their performance (Qu et al, 2017).…”

“…Leaders need to learn how to create an environment of innovation and creativity for employees to enhance their performance (Qu et al, 2017). It is important to know how the followers should be trained to maintain a high-quality relationship with the leaders in an innovative working environment (Imam et al, 2020;Qu et al, 2017).…”