Authentic leadership is "a pattern of positive leadership behavior that draws upon and promotes both positive psychological capacities and a positive ethical climate to foster greater self-awareness, an internalized moral perspective, balanced processing of information, and relational transparency on the part of leaders working with followers, fostering positive self-development". Many studies have shown that authentic leadership can make employees more engaged in work, which in turn have positive effect on their performance. However, some other studies did not find such significant relationships, indicating that the link between authentic leadership and work engagement may be more complex and dependent on other conditions. Drawing on relevant theories on social identity, self-determination theory and the expectation-disconfirmation model, the current study introduces identification with supervisor, psychological empowerment and power distance orientation to explore the mechanism underlying the relationship between authentic leadership and employees' work engagement as well as its boundary conditions.
We conducted a three-wave questionnaire survey among 300 employees of a commercial bank in northeastern China. At time 1 (T1)，employees were asked to report their power distance orientation and demographic variables and rate the authentic leadership of their direct supervisors. One month later, same employees were rated their identification with their at time 2 (T2), the psychological empowerment. At time 3 (T3), another monthlater, the supervisors and employees rated their own work engagement. The results showed that identification with supervisor and psychological empowerment mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement, and the relationship between authentic leadership and employees' identification with supervisor was moderated by employee power distance. Specifically, the effects of authentic leadership on employees' identification with supervisor was stronger among employees with low levels of power distance orientation compared with those with high levels of power distance orientation. Furthermore, employee power distance orientation moderated the mediating role employee identification in the the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement. In specific, the indirect effect of identification with supervisors was stronger among employees with low (versus high) levels of power distance orientation.
This study has theoretical implications on relevant literature by revealing the mechanism and boundary conditions of the effects of authentic leadership on employees' work engagement. Specifically, authentic leadership can promote employees' work engagement through their identification with supervisor and psychological empowerment; among employees with high levels of power orientation, the effect of authentic leadership on their engagement through identification with supervision is more salient. These findings also have practical implications for enterprise management and HR practice.
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