Bridging the Gap between Authentic Leadership and Employees Communal Relationships through Trust

• Main Authors: Sadaf Iqbal, Tahir Farid, Muhammad Khalil Khan, Qionghon Zhang, Amira Khattak, Jianhong Ma
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2019-12-01
• Series: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health
• Subjects: authentic leadership; affective-based trust; cognitive-based trust; communal relationship; banking sector; pakistan
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/17/1/250

Authentic leadership has emerged as a positive relational-leadership approach that has gained the attention of academicians and practitioners by stimulating a healthy work environment. This study examined the direct influence of authentic leadership on employees’ communal relationships. In addition, the study examined the mediating role of affective- and cognitive-based trust on these relationships. We adopted a cross-sectional study design and collected data from 200 employees working in the private banking sector in Pakistan. The findings indicated that authentic leadership was positively correlated with communal employee relationships. In addition, both affective- and cognitive-based trust were found to have a positive mediating effect on the relationship between authentic leadership and communal employee relationships. The practical implications, limitations and suggestions for future research are discussed.