The effect of authentic leadership and psychological capital on work engagement: the mediating role of job satisfaction

Abstract

PurposeThis study aims to investigate the effect of authentic leadership and psychological capital (PsyCap) on work engagement via job satisfaction by employing the job demands-resources (JD-R) model.Design/methodology/approachParticipants were 307 (52% male and 48% female) employees randomly recruited from a state-owned company in the eastern part of Indonesia. Most participants had completed an undergraduate degree with a mean age of 27.55 (SD = 7.89). The study employed a three-wave data collection technique to rule out any common method biases.FindingsThe results suggested that the theoretical model and empirical data showed a good fit (CMIN/DF = 2.19 and RMSEA = 0.06), indicating an indirect effect of authentic leadership and PsyCap on work engagement via job satisfaction. The effect of authentic leadership on work engagement was fully mediated by job satisfaction. In contrast, job satisfaction only partially mediated the relationship between PsyCap and work engagement.Research limitations/implicationsFirst, this study did not explore any further consequences of gender equality. Second, although the data have been compared with some existing studies, this study did not collect cross-cultural data from different countries. Lastly, the data were collected from a state-owned enterprise, which may limit generalisation to other organisations.Originality/valueThis study offered a new perspective by examining the implications of the JD-R model in the eastern part of Indonesia, where organisation culture is predominantly influenced by Buginese values. Furthermore, the inclusion of job satisfaction into the model added new information regarding the importance of mediating variables in explaining the indirect effect of job and personal resources.

Working from home during the corona pandemic: Investigating the role of authentic leadership, psychological capital, and gender on employee performance

“…For instance, Woolley et al (2011) suggested that Authentic Leadership's contribution to a positive work climate was perceived as more influential by male than female employees. In contrast, Wirawan et al (2020) found that gender did not moderate Authentic Leadership's effect on Employees' Engagement. Hypothetically, women would need more support from leaders because they might experience a higher work-family conflict and role conflict while working from home (Cinamon & Rich, 2002;Grönlund, 2007).…”

“…Woolley et al (2011) have postulated that male employees perceived Authentic Leadership more positively due to organizational values. However, in a more neutral organization (i.e., perceived gender equality), gender showed a non-significant moderating effect (Wirawan et al, 2020). While juggling with work and family demands, employees need support from leaders to secure their resources and maintain performance.…”

“…However, historically, research investigating the association between Authentic Leadership and employees' psychological states and behaviors has focused much on neutral circumstances or traditional work conditions. Although there is unambiguous evidence stating that the effect was consistent across different cultures (Wirawan et al, 2020), less is known whether the theoretical model would show a similar result during the global crisis (i.e., Covid-19) when employees are working from home. As mentioned earlier, employees have been working from home since early 2020.…”

Mitigating Effect of Psychological Capital on Employees’ Withdrawal Behavior in the Presence of Job Attitudes: Evidence From Five-Star Hotels in Malaysia

“…The results indicated that there existed significant positive relationships between PsyCap with JS (β = 0.44, p < 0.01) and affective OC (β = 0.39, p < 0.01). In a similar vein, Wirawan et al (2020) found that the impact of PsyCap on an employee's JS was significant and positive, with a regression coefficient of (β = 0.32, p < 0.01). More literature in hospitality industry also proved that PsyCap was a predictive construct of job attitudes (e.g., Cheung et al, 2019;Viseu et al, 2020;Ribeiro et al, 2021).…”

Investigating the effect of authentic leadership and employees' psychological capital on work engagement: evidence from Indonesia

“…Psychological Capital (PsyCap) is a form of employee's psychological resources (Luthans et al, 2015). To illustrate, PsyCap predicted engagement among front-line staff in the hospitality business (Paek et al, 2015), employees in various large for-profit companies (Chaurasia and Shukla, 2014;Joo et al, 2016;Wirawan et al, 2020), and public services (Saleh et al, 2020). Nevertheless, Kang & Busser (2018) and Parrott et al (2019) postulated that PsyCap and leadership should be employed to predict Work Engagement in different job types (e.g., technician vs. hospitality) and levels (e.g., staff vs. manager).…”