Our field has reached a critical juncture. Authentic leadership, which once promised to illuminate how leaders inspire and influence through genuine actions, has become mired in conceptual ambiguity and ideological bias. Much of the research is based on evaluations of behaviour conflated with antecedents and outcomes, presuming an oversimplified, positive view of authenticity. To advance, we must refocus on what authentic leaders actually do – their discrete behaviours – as signals of leadership. In this editorial, we redefine authentic leadership through signalling theory to address unresolved critiques and provide a platform for meaningful progress. We then summarise and synthesise the articles in this special issue, which systematically review the literature, present dynamic models of authenticity, introduce ‘bounded authenticity’ in leadership roles, advocate for rigorous experimental methods, and offer empirical support. Collectively, these papers advance authentic leadership theory with greater theoretical precision and a conceptual nuance that reflects the modern organisational leadership landscape.

Scholarly and practitioner interest in authentic leadership has grown at an accelerating rate over the last decade, resulting in a proliferation of publications across diverse social science disciplines. Accompanying this interest has been criticism of authentic leadership theory and the methods used to explore it. We conducted a systematic review of 303 scholarly articles published from 2010 to 2023 to critically assess the conceptual and empirical strengths and limitations of this literature and map the nomological network of the authentic leadership construct. Results indicate that much of the extant research does not follow best practices in terms of research design and analysis. Based on the findings obtained, an agenda for advancing authentic leadership theory and research that embraces a signaling theory perspective is proposed.

Despite its popularity, authentic leadership remains enigmatic, with both advantages and disadvantages. The connection between authenticity (an internal process) and leadership (an external influence process) is complex. We introduce a theory that connects these processes through self-regulation, suggesting that authenticity results from managing multiple identities regulated by factors such as active self-identity. Using ironic processes theory, we propose a model that encourages leaders to focus on their active self rather than suppressing misaligned aspects. We present authenticity as a dynamic process, adaptable across individual, relational, and collective levels, with self-identity shifting contextually. This perspective offers insights into developing leader authenticity, addresses the limitations of the authentic leadership approach, and provides a roadmap for future research.

This research explores the theory of authentic leadership and the critiques on the theory by analyzing the portrayals of Queen Elizabeth II, Princess Diana, and Margaret Thatcher in season 4 of the Netflix’s series The Crown. Utilizing directed qualitative content analysis, we seek to understand how authenticity in leadership is manifested, its limitations, and the role of gender within this framework. The investigation highlights the challenges leaders face between expected role fulfillment and genuine self-expression. It explores the benefits and drawbacks of authenticity, the attribution of authenticity when the leaders deviate from the formal roles, the nature of the role as influencing the expression of authenticity (e.g., degrees of freedom associated with each role) and the complex interaction between gender and authenticity. In response to these findings, the concept of ‘leader bounded authenticity’ is proposed, suggesting a balance between adhering to the formal role and the display of authentic leadership.

Authentic leadership studies are often criticised for the limited use of causally defined research designs. To advance scholarship is this area, this article presents a scoping review on the use of experimental designs to examine causality in authentic leadership. Eleven publications were identified, which presented 16 experiments that met the inclusion criteria. Generally, these experiments tested authentic leadership as an antecedent; were conducted online; used a one-factor design; involved large samples, typically of working adults or residents; involved a manipulation check; involved the use of written vignettes to manipulate levels of authentic leadership; included counterfactual conditions; culminated with outcomes pertaining to followers; and established the causal effects of authentic leadership on the outcome(s) of interest. These findings suggest the value of: written vignettes; multi-method approaches; and online experiments. They also highlight opportunities to advance authentic leadership research through the use of sequential experiments and immersive technologies.

Leader exemplification involves implicit and explicit claims of high moral values made by a leader. We employed a 2 × 3 experimental design with samples of 265 students in Study 1 and 142 working adults in Study 2 to examine the effects of leader exemplification (exemplification versus no exemplification) and ethical conduct (self-serving, self-sacrificial, and self-other focus) on perceived leader authenticity, trust in leader, and organizational advocacy. In Study 1, we found that exemplification produced elevated levels of perceived authenticity, trust, and advocacy in the form of employment and investment recommendations. We also showed that leader ethical conduct moderated this effect, as ratings were highest following a leader’s self-sacrificial conduct, lowest for self-serving conduct, and moderate for conduct reflecting self-other concerns. In Study 2, we replicated these findings for perceived authenticity and trust, but not organizational advocacy, which yielded mixed results. The leadership implications and future research directions are discussed.

Our paper examines whether the impact of abusive supervision on on-the-job embeddedness (JEM) is stronger than on job satisfaction (JSAT), affective organizational commitment (AOC), and turnover intentions. We also examine whether the mediation impact of on-the-JEM in the linkage between abusive supervision and turnover intentions is stronger than the mediation impacts of JSAT and AOC. Data gathered from restaurant service workers in three waves in Ghana were used to test the abovementioned linkages via structural equation modeling. The findings illustrate that all hypotheses are supported. Specifically, the influence of abusive supervision on on-the-JEM is stronger than on traditional attitudinal variables. Additional findings demonstrate that the mediation effect of on-the-JEM in the relationship between abusive supervision and proclivity to quit is stronger than the mediation effects of JSAT and AOC. Implications for theory and managers are offered in our paper.

This mixed-method investigation examines the nature, prevalence, and correlates of mansplaining in modern workplaces. In Study 1, we scrape Twitter and conduct a thematic analysis of 2,312 tweets. These findings ground a comprehensive definition of mansplaining and propose six items for measurement. In Study 2, we quantitatively investigate mansplaining experiences at work (n = 499), finding that almost every participant had experienced mansplaining in the previous year. Expected gender differences emerged among mansplaining perpetrators and targets, yet men were not the only perpetrators, nor were women the only targets. Confirmatory factor analysis results support the possibility that mansplaining is a second factor of incivility. Further, mansplaining predicted significant variance in outcomes such as job satisfaction and turnover intentions above and beyond incivility. This research underscores that mansplaining is more than a social media phenomenon. Rather, it is a form of gendered mistreatment with implications for scholars and practitioners alike.

This paper aims to analyze how governance and management of strategic networks (SNs) composed of small firms differ according to network size and length of existence. We analyzed 20 Brazilian SNs, comparing oldest to youngest and largest to smallest. The results show that large SNs have a more robust management structure, automated process control system, and centralized strategic decision-making power. Only small and younger SNs are not centralized and lack incentive mechanisms for members. Moreover, older SNs have a centralized strategic formulation and implementation process, whereas younger SNs have a more inclusive and participatory one. The results confirm previous studies and offer a fine-grained comprehension of the governance of SNs according to the number of members. The findings contribute to the nascent network governance theory and offer insights to network managers who have to reconfigure the governance as the number of members grows.

Drawing upon contemporary social hierarchy research, the purpose of this study is to integrate a novel theoretical perspective to examine the taken-for-granted conclusions of the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX) and interpersonal citizenship. We develop theoretically driven arguments and provide evidence of how LMX relates to power and status, the two prominent bases of social hierarchy. The results from our study support our assertion that the quality of LMX relationships provides social information about one's relative standing within a group's informal hierarchy. Specifically, LMX is positively associated with higher levels of perceived power and perceived status. Both power and status serve as important mediators that explain the relationship between LMX and interpersonal citizenship. We also identify the importance of citizenship pressure as a boundary condition for these relationships, finding that citizenship pressure interacts with power and status differently to influence the extent that employees engage in citizenship behaviors.

The present study benefits from social identity theory to argue that employees' organizational identity interacts with their trust propensity to predict affective organizational commitment and creativity. It used random coefficient regression procedures or multilevel modeling through the generalized linear mixed models command to test its hypothesis because the data that were collected in two of the studies were the nested or dependent data. Employing longitudinal data gathered from 153 participants and their 71 direct managers at a public organization in Study 1, the present study revealed that organizational identity had stronger positive influences on organizational commitment and creativity when participants' trust propensity was high. Employing longitudinal data collected from 210 employees of 32 business organizations and from 49 direct supervisors of the employees in Study 2, the present study reassured that trust propensity moderates the relationship between organizational identity and creativity. The present study contributes to the theory that employees' personal identity accentuates the positive relationship between their social identity and workplace outcomes such that the relationship becomes stronger as employees' personal identity increases.

The increasing globalisation, the multiculturality of workplaces and the current challenges for organisations generated the need for researchers to support them to manage the workforce. Although the relevance of employee voice for these themes, a lack of shared understanding about this topic results in fragmented literature across and within research fields that limits theoretical advancement and deep comprehension of the phenomenon. Our first aim is to offer a literature review of employee voice by combining systematic and bibliometric methods; the second aim is to understand voice's main issues and implications by considering different research streams. The results present an integrated framework of the leading intellectual knowledge and reveal the main research focuses on voice in domestic contexts. The discussion underlines the cultural issue and context as critical elements for future research by proposing avenues for scholars and some implications for organisations to benefit from the contributions of their members.

The literature on the job demands–resources (JD-R) theory has flourished for the past decade due to the theory's simplicity and its applications in many areas of work life. However, the literature is lacking on how leaders can utilize this theory to manage employees, especially in the Asian leadership context. Using the JD-R theory, the current study investigated each aspect of paternalistic leadership (i.e., benevolent leadership, authoritarian leadership and moral leadership) and its influence on employees' job resources (i.e., work meaningfulness and influence at work), job demands (i.e., emotional and cognitive demands), work engagement, burnout and the processes involved. Four hundred and thirty-one (431) full-time working employees (mean age: 31.58; female: 57.8%) from various organizations in Malaysia participated in the study. Using structural equation modelling, the study's results showed that the benevolent aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher work engagement and lower burnout through work meaningfulness (but not through influence at work). In contrast, the authoritarian aspect of paternalistic leadership was related to higher burnout through emotional demands (but not through cognitive demands), while the moral leadership aspect had no significant relationship to employees' job demands or job resources, with a mediation process not found in either relationship. Overall, the study revealed three contrasting mechanisms for each aspect of paternalistic leadership and suggested how paternalistic leadership may be practised in Asian countries.

Applying conservation of resources theory, we propose a theoretical model that explains how and when supervisor knowledge sharing affects creative behavior. Specifically, this study examines employee self-efficacy as the core intermediary mechanism and work–family conflict as the boundary condition of the indirect effect of supervisor knowledge sharing on creative behavior via self-efficacy. Drawn from a sample of 147 dyads comprising full-time employees and their immediate supervisors, the results of this study showed support for our moderated mediation model. The findings indicated that supervisor knowledge sharing had a significant effect on creative behavior and this influence is mediated by self-efficacy. Furthermore, our study revealed that work–family conflict attenuated the positive supervisor knowledge sharing's effect on creative behavior via self-efficacy. Implications of our findings for theory and practice are discussed.

To date, empirical research exploring the complex mechanisms of when and how information seeking from supervisor affects newcomers' task-related outcomes remains in its infancy. With a sample of 394 newcomers and their supervisors, drawing on the conservation of resources theory and professional image construction theory, we proposed and confirmed two paradoxical paths regarding perceptions of professional image construction – concern about impairing competence-image and confidence in improving commitment-image – that connect newcomers' information seeking from supervisor with their emotional exhaustion during socialization and ultimately can elevate and degrade their task-related outcomes, respectively. In addition, we found that supervisors' favorable feedback weakened the relationship between information seeking from supervisor and competence-image impairment concern, whereas it strengthened the linkage between information seeking and commitment-image improvement confidence. This study thus provides a more comprehensive picture for scholars and practitioners.

Promoting knowledge sharing among employees is vital for companies whose competitive advantage is based on innovation. However, there is inadequate empirical evidence to show that human resource practices intensify knowledge sharing. Thus, this study examines whether high-commitment human resource management can boost knowledge sharing among staff members. A cross-sectional survey of permanent employees was conducted (N = 480) to examine the suitability of the secondary constructs ‘knowledge sharing in the organisation’ and ‘high-commitment human resource management’ using confirmatory factor analysis; their mutual relationship via structural equation modelling was also explored. The findings indicate that high-commitment human resource management increases knowledge dissemination in organisations. Additionally, they suggest that firms should concentrate on hiring selectively, providing autonomy and motivating work tasks to employees, setting practices for performance management and career management, and investing in employee training and development to support firm innovativeness.

Information asymmetry about the employee's state of health means that workers may decide to work (or not) when they are sick, which turns presenteeism into a principal-agent relationship. From this new perspective, presenteeism can be explained by some distinct and original factors such as implicit incentives related to motivation and a sense of autonomy (empowerment, job usefulness, and recognition) and explicit incentives given by wages and other non-economic benefits (training and career prospects). In a sample of European workers using multilevel (by country) Tobit models, we find that short-term incentives and workers' empowerment increase presenteeism, while long-term incentives reduce it. As expected, supervision is ineffective in controlling presenteeism, while relationships based on trust have a positive impact. Finally, we propose several practices related to incentives, training, monitoring, occupational health and safety and job design specifically intended to manage presenteeism and its consequences in six areas of the human resources function.