Employees’ perceptions of their manager’s authentic leadership. Considering managers’ political skill and gender
| Date | 14 October 2019 |
| Pages | 202-214 |
| Published date | 14 October 2019 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-03-2019-0097 |
| Author | Qaiser Mehmood,Melvyn R.W. Hamstra,Bert Schreurs |
| Subject Matter | Hr & organizational behaviour,Global hrm |
Employees’perceptions of their
manager’s authentic leadership
Considering managers’political skill
and gender
Qaiser Mehmood
Mohammad Ali Jinnah University, Islamabad, Pakistan
Melvyn R.W. Hamstra
Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands, and
Bert Schreurs
Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Brussels, Belgium
Abstract
Purpose –The purpose of this paper is to test whether managers’political skill is relevant for employees’
authentic leadership perceptions. Political influence theory assumes that political tactics seek to affect others’
interpretations of a person or situation. Thus, what matters for employees’perceptions of their manager’s
authentic leadership may be whether the manager actively seeks to show behavior that can be interpreted as
authentic leadership. Combining political influence theory and gender stereotypes research, it is further suggested
that managergender moderatesthe employees’interpretationof political influence attemptsthat are ambiguous.
Design/methodology/approach –Managers (n¼156; 49.5 percent female) completed measures of
their political skill. Employees (n¼427; 39.1 percent female) completed measures of the manager’s
authentic leadership.
Findings –Managers’apparent sincerity was positively related to employees’perceptions of managers’
authentic leadership; managers’networking ability was negatively related to employees’perceptions of
female managers’authentic leadership, but not of male managers.
Research limitations/implications –The methodology does not allow claims about causality.
Originality/value –Findings add knowledge of authentic leadership, such as difficulties that female
managers face, and show the value of a fine-grained approach to political skill. Female managers should be
aware that networking might have disadvantageous side effects. Conversely, sincere behavior attempts seem
favorable for authentic leadership perceptions.
Keywords Gender, Quantitative, Organizational politics, Leadership style
Paper type Research paper
The dynamism of modern business is often stated to have necessitated a shift in what is
required for managers to be effective (Luthans and Slocum, 2004). In contrast to top-down
leadership,what is considered indispensablefor today’s manager is to be regarded as genuine
so that in a dynamic world,employees know where they stand with theirboss. Thus, it is not
surprising to see an increasing interest in the concept of authentic leadership (Avolio and
Gardner, 2005; Ilies et al., 2005). Authentic leadership is often described as a pattern of
behavior that includes showing an understanding of one’s impact, strengths and w eaknesses
(self-awareness), showing one’strue self to others (relational transparency), analyzingrelevant
information to support making decisions in non-biased ways (balanced processing) and
behaving in a way that accords with one’s values (internalized moral perspective).
Personnel Review
Vol. 49 No. 1, 2020
pp. 202-214
Emerald Publishing Limited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-03-2019-0097
Received 2 March 2019
Revised 20 May 2019
Accepted 8 June 2019
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
© Qaiser Mehmood, Melvyn R.W. Hamstra and Bert Schreurs. Published by Emerald Publishing
Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0) licence. Anyone
may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article ( for both commercial
and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. The
full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/legalcode
202
PR
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