Details

Autor(en) / Beteiligte

• De La Cruz, Mayra

Titel

An Exploration of the Relationship between the Perceptions of Authenticity in Leadership and Self- Evaluation of Work Engagement

Ort / Verlag

ProQuest Dissertations Publishing

Erscheinungsjahr

2023

Link zum Volltext

• ProQuest

Quelle

ProQuest Dissertations & Theses A&I

Beschreibungen/Notizen

• The global pandemic- COVID-19, has elevated the need for exceptional leadership. As early as 2021, Gallup identified a worldwide employee engagement crisis with serious and potentially lasting repercussions for the global economy. Engagement is important in the workplace because of all the benefits it entails, such as positively affecting customer service and taking fewer sick days, as well as avoiding the consequences of a disengaged workforce, including turnover. An extensive review of the literature has indicated a lack of empirically based research that examined the relationship between employees’ perception of their supervisors’ authentic leadership and employees’ self-rated work engagement when controlling for employees’ leadership position, age, gender, and tenure. The purpose of my study is to offer practical implications based on my findings that may help organizations promote authenticity in leadership and cultivate work engagement among their employees. An important advancement in the study of authentic leadership was the development of the authentic leadership questionnaire (ALQ) by Avolio et al. (2007). The ALQ measures the components that comprise authentic leadership: relational transparency, internalized moral perspective, balanced processing, and self-awareness. Schaufeli et al. (2002) defined work engagement as a unique positive, fulfilling, work-related state of mind that is characterized by vigor, dedication, and absorption. Interested in having an instrument to measure work engagement, Schaufeli et al. developed the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES), which is a valid and reliable self-reporting questionnaire. The UWES measures the three sub-constructs of work engagement: vigor, dedication, and absorption. In this study, individuals 18 years and older who were employed either full-time or part-time completed a demographic survey that asked for their leadership position, age, gender, and tenure. They also completed the ALQ to rate their perception of their supervisors’ authentic leadership style, and the UWES to rate their own work engagement. Overall, results from the study found self-awareness to be the only predictor of overall work engagement, vigor, dedication, and absorption. Since none of the control variables were found to have a significant relationship with work engagement and its sub-constructs, we can imply that the workforce of today is more interested in the authenticity of their leader, especially those leaders who are aware of themselves and their surroundings. The results of this study emphasize the crucial role of self-awareness and overall work engagement, vigor, dedication, and absorption.