Journal
HUMAN RELATIONS
Volume 74, Issue 4, Pages 473-501Publisher
SAGE PUBLICATIONS LTD
DOI: 10.1177/0018726719888260
Keywords
Authentic leadership; leader authenticity; leader effectiveness; mindfulness; political skill; self-regulated attention
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Research shows that leaders can enhance authenticity through mindful self-regulated attention and improve interaction with employees through a combination of mindfulness and political skill. This is crucial for leader authenticity and effectiveness.
Despite much research on leader authenticity, its antecedents remain poorly understood. We develop a self-regulatory model of leader authenticity. The model explains how both mindful self-regulated attention and political skill, as well as their interaction, are important for leaders to be authentic, and ultimately effective. Mindful self-regulated attention-a core dimension of mindfulness defined as sustained attention centered on the present moment-helps leaders stay connected to their core self amid the busyness of their (work) lives, allowing leaders to feel authentic. And, particularly in combination with political skill-a social effectiveness construct-it helps leaders interact with their employees in a way that is experienced as authentic and effective. In an experimental study (Study 1), we found that leaders who mindfully self-regulate their attention feel more authentic. In a two-wave multi-source field study (Study 2), we found that leader self-regulated attention was positively associated with employee perceptions of leader authenticity and effectiveness. Further, this relation was stronger when leader political skill was high. We discuss theoretical and practical implications of this research.
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