Be(com)ing Real: a Multi-source and an Intervention Study on Mindfulness and Authentic Leadership

Abstract

Although authentic leadership has been shown to inform a host of positive outcomes at work, the literature has dedicated little attention to identifying its personal antecedents and effective means to enhance it. Building on strong theoretical links and initial evidence, we propose mindfulness as a predictor of authentic leadership. In 2 multi-source field studies (cross-sectional and experimental), we investigated (a) the role of leaders' trait mindfulness and (b) the effectiveness of a low-dose mindfulness intervention for perceptions of authentic leadership. The results of both studies confirmed a positive relation between leaders' trait mindfulness and authentic leadership as rated by both followers and leaders. Moreover, the results of study 2 showed that the intervention increased authentic leadership via gains in leaders' mindfulness, as perceived by both followers and leaders. In addition, we found that the intervention positively extended to followers' work attitudes via authentic leadership. The paper concludes with a discussion of the study's implications for leadership theory and leader development.

Do Job Insecure Leaders Perform Less Transformational Leadership? The Roles of Emotional Exhaustion and Trait Mindfulness

“…While trait mindfulness has mostly been studied in disciplines such as psychology, neuroscience, and medicine, a small but growing number of organizational studies have begun to explore its potential benefits in the workplace context (Good et al, 2016). For example, it has been shown that trait mindfulness positively relates to psychological health (Kiken et al, 2017), job performance (Dane & Brummel, 2014), prosocial behavior (Donald et al, 2019), transformational leadership (Carleton et al, 2018; Pinck & Sonnentag, 2018), and authentic leadership (Dietl & Reb, 2019; Nübold et al, 2019). Another cluster of research explores the interpersonal effects of leader mindfulness on followers.…”

Mindfulness-Based Programs in the Workplace: a Meta-Analysis of Randomized Controlled Trials

“…Relating to one's experiences with curiosity, openness and acceptance has been proposed to spark creativity, open new perspectives, enhance problem-solving, and facilitate coping with uncertainty (Baas et al 2014;Jacobs and Blustein 2008;Lebuda et al 2016;Ostafin and Kassman 2012). These intrapersonal qualities might positively affect interpersonal functioning (Moll et al 2015) and leadership behavior (Nübold et al 2019;Reb et al 2019;Schuh et al 2019). Thus, workplace mindfulness is expected to improve not only individual well-being and performance but also the productivity, agility, and innovative strength of organizations on the whole (Greiser and Martini 2018).…”

Managers’ Resources for Authentic Leadership – a Multi‐study Exploration of Positive Psychological Capacities and Ethical Organizational Climates

“…(2018) pointed out that core aspects of AL, such as the consistency of thoughts and behaviours, cannot be evaluated by other persons (see also Hewlin, Dumas and Burnett, 2017; Knoll et al ., 2015). Research found significant positive correlations between leader and follower ratings of AL (Nübold, van Quaquebeke and Hülsheger, 2019). Also, the level of granularity (i.e.…”

“…In both studies, we followed recommendations for data screening to enhance quality (DeSimone and Harms, 2018; DeSimone, Harms and DeSimone, 2015). Future longitudinal research could study different forms of dynamics in AL behaviour, such as growth through interventions (Nübold, van Quaquebeke and Hülsheger, 2019), and include follower outcomes in response to short‐term fluctuations of AL (Gill and Caza, 2018) as well as carry‐over effects on following days.…”

“…(2012) found that employees were more likely to ascribe AL when they saw their managers as possessing high levels of self‐knowledge and self‐consistency. Nübold, van Quaquebeke and Hülsheger (2019) showed that managers’ mindfulness related positively to self‐ and other‐ratings of AL, and that a mindfulness intervention enhanced AL perceptions. In sum, current evidence points to managers’ personal characteristics as well as the organizational context as facilitating factors for AL.…”