Authentic Leadership: An Empirical Assessment of the Ephemeral

Abstract

This thesis quantitatively examines how individual cultural differences impact on authentic leadership efficacy and isolates its key mediating mechanisms. Four major advances are presented. The first is a formula for calculating respondents’ Western Values Scores from existing indices – a logical advance along traditional lines of cultural research. The second is the development of a new Holistic Cognition Scale (HCS) that captures cultural differences in cognitive schemata. The third and fourth advances are the moderation and mediation assessments of authentic leadership efficacy. The results indicate that the final 14-item HCS is a valid and reliable measure of respondents’ analytic and holistic thought. Contrary to expectations, I find no significant moderation effects from individual cultural differences and authentic leadership proves remarkably robust to cultural forces. Lastly, I identify followers’ personal identification, affect-based trust, and work engagement as the three main mediating mechanisms through which authentic leadership positively influences desirable organisational outcomes.