Leadership & Organization Development Journal

The effects of authentic leadership and organizational commitment on turnover

intention
Anthony Gatling, Hee Jung Annette Kang, Jungsun Sunny Kim,
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Anthony Gatling, Hee Jung Annette Kang, Jungsun Sunny Kim, (2016) "The effects of authentic
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Development Journal, Vol. 37 Issue: 2, pp.181-199, https://doi.org/10.1108/LODJ-05-2014-0090
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IJCHM-07-2014-0360">https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCHM-07-2014-0360</a>
(2016),"Transformational leadership and employee turnover intention: The mediating role of affective
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The effects of authentic Authentic

leadership
leadership and organizational and OC
commitment on
turnover intention 181
Received 7 May 2014
Anthony Gatling, Hee Jung Annette Kang and Jungsun Sunny Kim Revised 29 June 2014
William F. Harrah College of Hotel Administration, 2 December 2014
3 December 2014
University of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada, USA Accepted 4 December 2014

Abstract
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Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore whether authentic leadership in hospitality is
composed of four distinctive but related substantive components (i.e. self-awareness, relational
transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral); the impact of authentic leadership on
employees’ organizational commitment (OC); the impact of employees’ OC on their turnover intention
(TI); and the indirect effect of authentic leadership on employees’ TI via OC.
Design/methodology/approach – The authors tested a sample of 236 students working as
employees in hospitality in the USA, on the idea that authentic leadership increases OC which in turn
decreases TI. The participants were asked to rate the manager’s leadership style and the frequency of
their leadership behavior.
Findings – Results of structural equation modeling provide support for the positive effect of authentic
leadership on OC in the hospitality industry, and suggest that OC mediates reduced TI.
Practical implications – The findings in the present study are extremely useful to managers,
human resource managers, and organizations as a whole. Practitioners looking to increase employee
OC and decrease TI can do so by augmenting the authentic leadership qualities of managers.
Originality/value – The results of this study suggests a variety of significant theoretical
contributions as well as critical leadership and organizational implications. The effects of authentic
leadership were empirically tested on employees’ OC and the effects of that OC on TI.
Keywords Turnover intention, Organizational commitment, Authentic leadership,
Authentic leadership development
Paper type Research paper

Introduction
Authentic leadership is defined as behavior that displays and encourages positive
mental dimensions and a principled climate that cultivates self-awareness (SA),
an internalized moral perspective (IMP), balanced processing of information (BPI), and
relational transparency (Walumbwa et al., 2008). Authentic leadership research has
conceptually and empirically evolved as a focus of interest that enriches studies on
organizational commitment (OC) (Avolio et al., 2004; Jensen and Luthans, 2006).
Previous research also indicates authentic leadership is related to critical
organizational outcomes, such as empowerment, job satisfaction, job performance,
and overall profitability (Avolio, 2010; Clapp-Smith et al., 2009; Giallonardo et al., 2010;
Walumbwa et al., 2008, 2010).
Leadership & Organization
At the intersection of management and organizational theory, there is a plethora of Development Journal
research seeking to clarify the causal antecedents of OC (DeConinck and Bachmann, Vol. 37 No. 2, 2016
pp. 181-199
1994; DeCotiis and Summers, 1987; Lok and Crawford 2001; Meyer et al., 1998) © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0143-7739
underscoring the fact that favorable work experiences are powerful determinants of DOI 10.1108/LODJ-05-2014-0090
 LODJ commitment (Meyer and Allen, 1991). Among those, some studies have tested the role
37,2 of OC as a mediating variable on relationships between leadership behavior and job
satisfaction/performance (Yousef, 2000), perceived organizational support and
employee turnover (Rhoades et al., 2001), and work motivation and job performance
(Trivellas, 2011). However, there is a lack of studies that specifically examined the role
of OC as a variable mediating the relationship between authentic leadership and
182 turnover intention (TI) in a hospitality context.
Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore whether authentic leadership in
hospitality is composed of four distinctive but related substantive components (i.e. SA,
relational transparency, balanced processing, and internalized moral); the impact of
authentic leadership on employees’ OC; the impact of employees’ OC on their TI; and the
indirect effect of authentic leadership on employees’ TI via OC. This research may prove
beneficial to managers and industry leaders by providing insights regarding the impact
that authentic leadership has on OC, and examining how these factors potentially reduce
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the costs of turnover. Although the recession of 2007 caused a slowdown in the rate of
hospitality industry turnover, with less hiring and fewer promotions, the turnover rate is
expected to increase rapidly as the economy begins to strengthen. Deloitte (2010) reports
that the average hotelier spends 45 percent of operating expense and 33 percent of
revenue on labor costs, coupled with an employee turnover rate of 31 percent. To
compound the problem, employees with elevated levels of TI are apt to have low morale
and low OC, deliver poor customer service, and undermine service recovery efforts
(Alexandrov et al., 2007). Because of the nature of guest contact hospitality work,
employees are required to be upbeat, positive, and enthusiastic and are expected to
maintain such social and interpersonal skills. Employees must be courteous and
responsive in good and bad interactions with guests. The emotional labor and extra
effort require of hospitality workers is unique and requires an effective leadership
approach. To this point, Peus et al. (2012) found in employees working for a large
government-funded research organization that authentic leaders inspired employee
willingness to make an extra effort as well as higher levels of commitment while reducing
TIs. Interestingly, only one study has conducted empirical research on authentic
leadership in the hospitality context: with a sample of employees working in four and five
star hotels in Istanbul, Yesiltas et al. (2013) found that authentic leadership had a
significant effect on prosocial service behavior, customer-oriented prosocial service
behavior, and coworker-oriented prosocial service behavior. The findings of this study
contribute to this emerging leadership literature by providing a comprehensive
theoretical framework, which can explain the relationships among the four components
of AL, OC, and TI in a hospitality setting (see Figure 1).

Literature review
Theoretical foundations
The body of knowledge related to authentic leadership comes primarily from applied
research (Gardner and Schermerhorn, 2004; George, 2007; George et al., 2007) and
academic management domains (Avolio et al., 2004; Avolio and Gardner, 2005; Avolio
and Luthans, 2006). An examination of literature over the past 30 years discloses the
transformational leadership style to be most relevant to hospitality leaders (Avolio and
Gardner, 2005; Bass, 2000; Bennis, 2000; Tichy and Ulrich, 1984; Yammarino et al.,
1993). Although authentic leadership proposes to be an over-arching concept that
includes transformational leadership, ethical leadership, and all positive forms of
leadership (May et al., 2003), very few hospitality studies have focussed on AL.
 RT1 RT2 RT3 IMP1 IMP2 IMP3 BP1 BP2 BP3 SA1 SA2 SA3
Authentic
leadership
and OC

Relationship Internalized Balanced Self-Awareness

Transparency
(RT)
Moral Processing of (SA) 183
Perspective (IMP) Information (BPI)

H1a (+) H1b (+) H1c (+) H1d (+)

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H4 (–)
Authentic Turnover
Leadership (AL) Intention (TI)
Organizational
H3 (–)
Commitment
H2 (+) (OC)

TI1 TI2

OC1 OC2 OC3 Figure 1.

Hypothesized model
Note: The dotted line indicates the indirect effect of AL on TI via OC

Walumbwa et al. (2008) described the conceptual overlap between the constructs of
authentic leadership and transformational leadership by stating that both theories
describe leaders as moral persons who exhibit honesty, integrity, and openness, and
that authentic leadership and ethical leadership both describe leaders having idealized
influence placing followers’ needs over their own needs. Integrity continually tops the
list of key characteristics of inquiry in hospitality studies that focussed on ethical
behavior (Brownell and Stevens, 2008; Calvert et al., 2008; Chung-Herrera et al., 2003).
Authentic leadership is at the heart of personal integrity and character, which not only
influence leaders’ decisions and actions but also have implications for their own well-
being and the well-being of followers (Gavin et al., 2003). Previous research has
confirmed that authentic leadership and behavioral integrity predict similar measures
of follower performance through similar theoretical mechanisms (Leroy et al., 2012).
The authentic leadership construct developed by Walumbwa et al. (2007) was
operationalized resulting in the Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) measure.
A review of the recent literature regarding authentic leadership has merged definitions
and evolved the higher order factor of authentic leadership to consist of four
second-order factors. These factors are SA, rational transparency, balanced processing,
and IMP:
(1) SA represents knowledge of how one develops and makes sense of the world,
and the way one assesses the self over time. SA also indicates having
knowledge of strengths and limitations while developing consciousness of the
impact that one has on other people (Kernis, 2003a).
 LODJ (2) Relational transparency is displayed when exhibiting the true authentic self
37,2 while avoiding fabricated or misleading displays of the self. Transparency in
relationships facilitates trust and honesty in communication as true feelings
and perspectives are shared openly and demonstrations of inappropriate
emotions are minimized (Kernis, 2003b).
(3) Balanced processing is demonstrated when leaders accurately examine
184 significant facts prior to arriving at a conclusion or decision, while
simultaneously seeking opinions that defy the leader’s profoundly
assumptions (Gardner et al., 2005).
(4) IMP refers to an internalized and integrated form of self- regulation (Ryan and
Deci, 2003). Internal individualized ethical beliefs and principles, not
organizational, team, and collective forces, directs this kind of self-regulation
resulting in conduct that is consistent with internal morals (Gardner et al., 2005).
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The four authentic leadership dimensions described above have not received much
attention in the hospitality literature. However, using authentic leadership as a second-
order factor and these four dimensions as first-order factors has been employed in the
psychological literature (Clapp-Smith et al., 2009; Giallonardo et al., 2010; Jensen and
Luthans; 2006; Walumbwa et al., 2010; Wong et al., 2010) and has been hypothesized to
be outcomes of authentic leadership in quantitative studies. Based on the previous
findings, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
H1. The proposed view of authentic leadership in the hospitality industry is
composed of four distinct but related substantive components: (a) relationship
transparency (RT), (b) IMP, (c) BPI, and (d) SA.

The direct effect of authentic leadership on OC

For decades, OC has been a focus of both academia and practitioners as a way to
increase employee retention and performance. Mowday et al. (1979) defined OC as the
comparative strength of an individual’s identification with and participation in a
particular organization and characterized them by three factors. These three factors
are: acceptance of the organization (affective); willingness to put extra effort for the
organization (continuance); and desire to remain in the organization (normative)
(Mowday et al., 1982; Porter et al., 1974; Steers, 1997). The distinction between affective
and continuance commitment is that affective commitment denotes having an
emotional attachment to, identification with, and involvement in the organization while
continuance commitment signifies the perceived costs associated with leaving the
organization. Normative commitment reflects a perceived obligation to remain in the
organization. Affective commitment was selected for the present study because it has
the most positive consequences on job performance and job satisfaction, in addition to
being negatively correlated to turnover (Allen and Meyer, 2000).
In the present study, authentic leadership is expected to be an important driver of
employee affective OC for two reasons. First, through SA managers can demonstrate
an understanding of strengths and weaknesses gaining insights into the self through
exposure to others and being cognizant of one’s impact on other people (Kernis, 2003a).
With clarity and understanding of one’s capabilities, and with the willingness to self-
declare capabilities, the manager will be less likely to engage in defensive behaviors
and more likely to correct personal biases (Mazutis and Slawinski, 2008). Moreover,
employees are more likely to increase their own SA when they see this characteristic in
 their manager. Self-aware leaders encourage followers to identify with the core values Authentic
of the collective organization that they represent and less with the leader themselves leadership
(Howell and Shamir, 2005). Second, transparency is a critical facet of authentic
leadership stressing the importance of attending to the shared interests of the group,
and OC
occasionally in direct conflict with individual self-interests (Avolio et al., 2003a, b, 2004).
Although very little research has been done linking authentic leadership to OC,
Avolio et al. (2004) did find direct effects of authentic leadership on follower work 185
attitudes, including OC, job satisfaction, work meaningfulness, and engagement. In
arguing for these direct effects, Avolio et al. (2004) postulate that: the BPI; transparency
in relationships; and consistency between principles, words, and actions (i.e. IMP)
displayed by authentic leaders contributes to higher levels of commitment, willingness
to perform, and satisfaction with the supervisor among followers. Thus, authentic
leaders will be somewhat transparent in expressing their true emotions and feelings to
followers, while controlling such emotions to reduce displays of inappropriate or
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potentially destructive emotions that could reflect negatively on the organization.

Based on prior research, this study proposes to test the following hypotheses:
H2. Authentic leadership has a significant positive effect on employees’ OC
(see Figure 1).

The direct effect of OC on TI

Scholars have determined that TI is a key element in the modeling of employee turnover
behavior and that behavioral intentions are the single best predictor of turnover (Abrams
et al., 1998; Lee and Mowday, 1987; Michaels and Spector, 1982). Mobley et al. (1978)
define TI as the integrated performance of not being satisfied with the work, the idea of
leaving, the intention of looking for other work, and the possibility of finding other work.
Researchers in the field of human resource development have explored turnover and TI
in association with job satisfaction, OC, personality, aptitude, intelligence, governmental
policies, and rates of unemployment (Sturman et al., 2003). Empirical research on TI in
the hospitality context has focussed on the relationship between TI and emotional
exhaustion (Lv et al., 2012), a chain of relationships between work-family balance, job
anxiety, TIs, and voluntary turnover (Vanderpool and Way, 2013), and the relationship
between organizational support and the TIs (Blomme et al., 2010).
OC is one of the most critical issues in an organization because of its positive impact on
employees’ dedication, loyalty (Rhoades et al., 2001), and negative effect on TI (Arnold and
Feldman, 1982; Çakmak-Otluoğlu, 2012; Solinger et al., 2008). In addition, commitment is a
strong indicator of organizational effectiveness (Steers, 1977) and a better indicator of
turnover than job satisfaction (Koch and Steers, 1978; Porter et al., 1974), employee’s
performance (Mowday et al., 1979), absenteeism (Steers, 1977), and citizenship (Somers,
1995). Since previous research has supported the negative relationship between OC and TI
(DeConinck and Bachmann, 1994; DeCotiis and Summers, 1987; Joo and Park, 2010), this
study expected a similar relationship between employees’ OC and their TI in the
hospitality context, which leads to the following hypothesis:
H3. Employees’ OC has a negative effect on employees’ TI (see Figure 1).

The indirect effect of authentic leadership on TI through OC

While the aforementioned studies have confirmed the significant relationship between
TI and OC, previous studies have not yet investigated the role of OC in mediating the
 LODJ relationship between authentic leadership and turnover intent. Simo et al. (2010) found
37,2 a negative relationship between affective commitment and the intention to leave the
organization, and most importantly, Wells and Peachey (2011) used job satisfaction as
a mediating variable between leadership behavior and TI, recommending using OC as a
mediator for the future research. Thus, we consider it necessary to test the indirect
effect of authentic leadership on TI through OC. As a mediator, OC is expected to
186 strengthen the ability of authentic leadership to reduce TI in the hospitality industry.
A mediator is often a cognitive, affective, physiological, motivational state which
functions as an individual’s psychological process (Hoyle and Robinson, 2003), which
also indicates that affective OC is an appropriate construct to be included as a mediator
in the hypothesized model. Therefore, this study proposes the following hypothesis:
H4. Authentic leadership has a negative indirect effect on employees’ TI via
employees’ OC (see Figure 1).
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Methods
Sample and data collection
Considering the target population of this study (hospitality employees), we collected data
from 373 university students studying hospitality in the southwest region of the USA via
an online survey design. Students were invited to participate by faculty members and by
flyers posted in high-traffic student areas. There were neither paper surveys nor
incentives offered for participation, and the participants were assured of anonymity and
confidentiality of the study results. After cleaning 120 unusable responses, we concluded
with a sample of 236 for data analysis. In particular, 69 participants were not employed in
a hospitality company at the time of the survey, and 51 did not complete the entire
questionnaire. Four items were included at the beginning of the survey to collect
demographic information (i.e. gender, age, ethnicity, and working industry). Demographic
variables were used in this study only to describe the sample. Participants were working
in various areas in the hospitality context including hotel (25.4 percent), gaming
(5.9 percent), restaurants (29.7 percent), and events (13.1 percent percent). Among
participants, 39 percent were Asian, 39 percent were white, and 22 percent were others
including black and multiple races. The gender ratio was 59 percent female to 41 percent
male. The majority of the employees were between the ages of 19 and 29 years (89 percent)
and worked in guest contact areas (89 percent). However, the respondents’ tenure varied
from less than one year (49 percent), one to two years (26 percent), two to five years
(19 percent), and more than five years (6 percent).

Measurements of the study constructs

This study used the survey instruments validated in the aforementioned studies in the
literature review section. A five-point Likert-type scale (1 ¼ not at all, 2 ¼ once in a
while, 3 ¼ sometimes, 4 ¼ fairly often, and 5 ¼ frequently) was used to measure
authentic leadership and a five-point Likert-type scale (from 1 ¼ strongly disagree to
5 ¼ strongly agree) was used for measuring OC, and TI.
Authentic leadership. The 16-item ALQ, developed by Walumbwa et al. (2008), was
used to measure authentic leadership behavior. The ALQ is a theory-driven leadership
survey instrument designed to measure the factors conceptualized as encompassing
authentic leadership. The participants were asked to rate the manager’s leadership
style and the frequency of their leadership behavior.
 OC. OC was measured using six items developed by Allen and Meyer (1990) such as Authentic
“I feel like part of the family at my organization,” “I feel emotionally attached to this leadership
organization,” and “I feel a strong sense of belonging to my organization.”
TI. Two items from DeConinck and Stilwell (2004) were adapted to measure
and OC
employee’s intent to leave their employer (e.g. “Within the next six months, I intend to
search for another job”).
187
Results
Structure equation modeling in EQS statistical Software was used to test the
hypotheses of this study. As recommended by Anderson and Gerbing (1988), the
measurement model was assessed using confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) first. After
examining the reliability, discriminant validity, and convergent validity of the model
constructs, a second-order factor structure that contains two layers of latent constructs
was conducted (Hair et al., 2006) in which the higher order latent variable, AL, cause
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lower order latent variables RT, IMP, BPI, and SA. The hypothesized structural model
was then tested and parameters were estimated. To test the model fit, several fit
indexes were used. Hu and Bentler (1999) suggest a comparative fit index (CFI) value of
0.95 or higher and a root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) value of 0.06 or
less as indicators of adequate model fit. Generally, χ2-to-df ratio less than 2, CFI value of
0.90 or higher, and RMSEA value at or below 0.08 demonstrate good model fit (Browne
and Cudeck, 1989).

CFA
According to Hair et al. (2006), both overall model fit and criteria for construct validity
must be tested. The initial measurement model provided a moderate fit to the data: χ2
(183) ¼ 474.44, χ2/df ¼ 2.59 po0.05, CFI ¼ 0.89, RMSEA ¼ 0.082. The result showed that
not all factor loadings were significantly high. For convergent validity, “all loadings
should be at least 0.5” (Hair et al., 2006, p. 808). Therefore, seven items which fell below
the standard were removed from the model: two items linked to RT, one to IMP, one item
to SA, and three items to OC. After this respecification, the result of the measurement
model test showed a good fit to the data: χ2 (101) ¼ 158.602, χ2/df ¼ 1.57, po0.05,
CFI ¼ 0.974, RMSEA ¼ 0.049. All constructs showed satisfactory scale reliability since
composite reliability of each construct exceeded the 0.7 thresholds recommended by Hair
et al. (2006). The standardized factor loadings of the measurement model were all
statistically significant and higher than 0.5, which indicates the validity of the constructs
(see Table I). Convergent validity was also established (i.e. the latent factor is well
explained by its observed variables) since all the indicators loaded on the proposed
constructs significantly, and the average variance extracted (AVE) in Table II were
above the recommended value of 0.5 (Bagozzi and Yi, 1988).

Direct effect (β) Indirect effect (β) Total effect (β) Hypotheses

Effect of AL on organizational 0.26* H2: Supported Table I.

commitment Relationships among
Effect of AL on turnover intention −0.11 −0.09* (via OC) −0.20* H4: Supported AL, organizational
Effect of OC on TI −0.35* H3: Supported commitment, and
Note: *p o0.05 turnover intention
 LODJ Standardized Composite
37,2 Factor Indicator Description factor loading reliability

F1: Relationship RT1 My leader says exactly what he or she 0.74* 0.81
transparency means
RT2 My leader admits mistakes when they are 0.78*
made
188 RT3 My leader encourages everyone to speak 0.77*
their mind
F2: Internalized IMP1 My leader demonstrates beliefs that are 0.72* 0.78
moral perspective consistent with actions
IMP2 My leader asks you to take positions that 0.81*
support your core values
IMP3 My leader makes difficult decisions 0.66*
based on high standards of
ethical conduct
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F3: Balanced BP1 My leader solicits views that challenge his 0.56* 0.77
processing of or her deeply held positions
information BP2 My leader analyzes relevant data before 0.76*
coming to a decision
BP3 My leader listens carefully to different 0.84*
points of view before coming to conclusions
F4: Self- SA1 My Leader seeks feedback to improve 0.80* 0.85
awareness interactions with others
SA2 My Leader knows when it is time to 0.77*
reevaluate his or her positions on
important issues
SA3 My Leader shows he or she 0.86*
understands how specific actions
impact others
F5: OC1 I feel like part of the family at my 0.87* 0.86
Organizational organization
commitment OC2 I feel emotionally attached to this 0.85*
organization
OC3 I feel a strong sense of belonging to my 0.72*
organization
F6: Turnover TI1 Within the next year, I intend to leave this 0.94* 0.85
intention profession
TI2 Within the next year, I rate the likelihood of 0.77*
searching for a job in a different profession
Table II. as high
Measurement model Note: *p o0.05

Strong discriminant validity was demonstrated (i.e. the latent factor is better explained
by its own observed variables than other variables) for OC and TI as the squared
correlations (0.14) between this pair of latent constructs were found to be less than the
AVE (0.67) of each construct (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). The same pattern was found
between OC and each first-order factor and TI and each first-order factor. However, the
discriminant validity among the four proposed first-order factors was deemed poor due
to high correlations among them. As shown in Table III, the pattern and direction of the
correlations among constructs of this study were as expected. For example, the four
dimensions of the authentic leadership (i.e. RT, IMP, BPI, and SA) are highly correlated
each other, and positively correlated with (OC) and negatively correlated with (TI).
 Therefore, the results demonstrate that these four first-order factors are not Authentic
independent. In the following section, we tested whether a single second-order factor leadership
(i.e. AL) accounts for this dependence.
and OC
Second-order factor analysis
The second-order factor model showed an excellent fit: χ2 (109) ¼ 164.864, χ2/df ¼ 1.55,
p o 0.05, CFI ¼ 0.975, RMSEA ¼ 0.047. Furthermore, significant positive relationships 189
between first-and second-order factors exist, as evidenced by statistically significant
standardized factor loadings: the loading of RT ¼ 0.92, IMP ¼ 0.92, BPI ¼ 0.96, and
SA ¼ 0.95 ( p o 0.05). Consequently, the four proposed first-order factors (RT, IMP, BPI,
and SA) accurately represent the underlying concept of AL, supporting the first
hypothesis that employees perceive authentic leadership as a combination of four
components: RT, IMP, BPI, and SA.
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Structural equation modeling

After identifying both a well-fitting measurement model and a second-order factor
model, the relationships between all variables in the proposed model were tested using
structural equation modeling. The result of maximum likelihood estimation shows an
excellent model fit to the data: χ2 (108) ¼ 164.864, χ2/df ¼ 1.53, p o 0.05, CFI ¼ 0.974,
RMSEA ¼ 0.047. As shown in Table I and Figure 1, an examination of path estimates
reveals that authentic leadership had a significant positive direct effect on employees’
organization commitment (β ¼ 0.26, p o 0.05), supporting H2; employees’ OC had a
significant negative effect on their TI (β ¼ −0.35, p o 0.05), supporting H3; and
employees’ authentic leadership had a significant negative indirect effect on their TI via
OC (β ¼ −0.09, p o 0.05), supporting H4. Since the indirect path from authentic
leadership to TI was significant, and the direct effect of authentic leadership on TI was
not statistically significant (β ¼ −0.11, p W 0.05), this demonstrates full mediation of the
relationship between authentic leadership and TI by OC.

Discussion
The results of this study suggest a variety of significant theoretical contributions as
well as critical leadership and organizational implications. This study was an attempt
to understand and empirically test hypothesized effects of authentic leadership on
employees’ OC and the effects of that OC on TI. Our model proposes that the effect of
authentic leadership on TI is mediated by OC.

F1 F2 F3 F4 F5 F6

F1: RT 0.58
F2: IMP 0.89* 0.54
F3: BPI 0.91* 0.90* 0.53
F4: SA 0.91* 0.86* 0.92* 0.66
F5: OC 0.27* 0.22* 0.23* 0.26* 0.67 Table III.
F6: TI −0.19* −0.22* −0.13* −0.19* −0.37* 0.85 Correlation matrix
Note: The values in italics are the average variance extracted (AVE). *p o0.05 with AVE
 LODJ H1
37,2 The proposed view of authentic leadership in the hospitality industry is composed of
four distinct but related substantive components. H1 is supported. The results provide
evidence that the four factors (SA, balanced processing, relational transparency, and
IMP) accurately represent the underlying concept of authentic leadership in the
hospitality context. One explanation may involve the positive nature of authentic
190 leadership aligning with the positive characteristics that leaders and organization
attempt to create, such as high levels of employee engagement and exceptional
customer satisfaction. It is plausible that the nature of the hospitality sector being
relationship oriented may accurately make authentic leadership style an ideal style for
this environment. That is, this type of leadership may inherently have a great deal to do
with creating a good worker and customer relationship environment, which explains
the accuracy of authentic leadership in hospitality contexts. While H1 is supported in
the present study, the proposed view of authentic leadership is based on a 16-items
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scale with four items removed due to low factor loading scores (i.e. insufficient
convergent validity). Avolio et al. (2003a, b) also indicated measurement limitation
related to contextual influences inherent in leadership research.

H2
Findings of this study indicate that a positive and significant relationship exists
between authentic leadership and affective OC, supporting H2. Although there is very
little empirical research linking authentic leadership and OC, consistent with Avolio
et al. (2004), we found a positive association between authentic leadership and OC.
An authentic leader’s behavior is likely to increase the level of employees’ commitment
with positive residual effects. This study offers empirical evidence of a positive
relationship between authentic leadership and OC in hospitality environments. First,
authentic leaders seek out the perspectives of followers when considering issues related
to work. They share information openly and honestly and are balanced in how they
process information. Not only does this approach demonstrate transparency, but it also
enable clarity regarding processes and objectives of the organization. Moreover, role
modeling authentic leadership behavior works to encourage and inspire followers
through principle-based behaviors that stimulate stronger commitment to
organizational goals (Luthans and Avolio, 2003). Walumbwa et al. (2011) supported
the notion that authentic leadership inspires commitment beyond expected levels of
discretionary effort when they found a significant positive relation between authentic
leadership and organizational citizenship behavior. Furthermore, authentic leadership
is likely to increase employees’ commitment to excellence and overall performance due
to the collective mental models that are shared with the group (Yammarino et al., 2008).
Under an authentic leader, employees are more likely to cultivate a culture of
collectivism resulting in an emphasis on excellence and the achievement of results.

H3
The third hypothesis was supported. As expected, this study confirmed that TI
negatively correlates to OC. Lee et al. (2001) stated that the importance of OC is
contingent on its relation to negative influences like TI. A lack of commitment has been
shown to result in employee job search behavior, intention to leave, and turnover, all of
which has been well documented in the literature. Although the model only included
one of the three commitment scales, affective commitment, Stallworth (2003) supported
the idea that affective commitment is the most important predictor of intention to leave.
 Consistent with the aforementioned rational, organizational tactics intending to Authentic
strengthen employees’ attachment (e.g. shared cultures, clear career paths, long-term leadership
employee incentives) are apt to have positive effects on employees’ psychological
identification with the organization than on their more deeply rooted beliefs regarding
and OC
the importance of the specific job (Sjöberg and Sverke, 2000).

H4 191
Authentic leadership had a significant negative indirect effect on employees’ TI via OC,
supporting H4. The indirect effect of authentic leadership on TI through OC supports
Avolio et al.’s (2004) theoretical model. It furthers our understanding of different ways
through which TI is influenced. These relationships were explained by the degree to
which employees’ had emotional attachment to the organization and the extent
to which employees were not satisfied with the work. Given the direct and indirect
influences of authentic leadership on OC, strategies aimed at increasing the authentic
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leadership of managers can be an effective approach to reducing the TI of employees.

Implications
Research implications
Previous research called for empirical studies of authentic leadership across various
contexts (Yammarino et al., 2008) and studies that measure the impact of authentic
leadership on work attitudes (Leroy et al., 2012). Additionally, Avolio (2007) contends
that leadership research should seek to empirically test constructs in different contexts
to measure the influence of leadership on followers. Thus, this study was set out to
address their suggestions in two distinct ways. First, this is the first study which
proposed and tested whether the four underlying factors of authentic leadership are
valid in a hospitality context. Second, this study is the first study which empirically
tested and validated the mediating effects of OC on the relationship between authentic
leadership and TI. Recent studies involving mediating variables between authentic
leadership and outcome variables only included trust, identification with supervisor,
and empowerment. In particular, Clapp-Smith et al. (2009) found that trust partially
mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and performance of employees
working in retail clothing stores, and Walumbwa et al. (2010) found identification with
supervisor and empowerment fully mediated the relationship between authentic
leadership and organizational citizenship behavior of employees. In sum, the theoretical
contribution of this study is that it extends the leadership literature by empirically
testing and validating the four underlying factors of authentic leadership in a new
context (i.e. hospitality) as well as the relationships among authentic leadership, OC,
and TI since such relationships have not been tested together in previous studies.

Practitioner implication
The findings in the present study are extremely useful to managers, human resource
managers, and organizations as a whole. Practitioners looking to increase employee OC
and decrease TI can do so by augmenting the authentic leadership qualities of
managers. As the results from the current study suggest, OC is positively affected and
TI negatively affected by AL.
SA. Research suggests that the best method for managers to improve their SA skill
is by way of a 360-feedback process that provides them with anonymous feedback
from their boss, peers, and subordinates (Rosti and Shipper, 1998). Thus, organizations
 LODJ may want to have third party help with both obtaining and disseminating feedback in
37,2 order to improve their authentic leadership through awareness of how others perceive
them. Managers should possess a high degree of self-knowledge. They should:
understand their own psychological strengths and emotional triggers; understand how
their personality characteristics (such as gregariousness, need for approval, tendency
to be judgmental, need for perfection, and control) affect their relationships with
192 employees; know how family-of-origin, race, class, religion, and gender issues shape
their attitudes; recognize their own feelings (frustration, vulnerability, elation, etc.) in
“relaxed” and “stressful” employee interactions (Novack et al., 1999).
Balanced processing. Managers should consider that reliance on hard data can
subordinate soft, intangible data, such as social and emotional data, which should be
considered in decision-making processes. Managers should be taught to look for
opposing views when considering critical issues. By seeking out diverse opinions from
people with different experiences and thought processes, managers will be better
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informed in their decision making. Constructive deliberation involving conflicting

points of view will often result in highly creative third alternatives. Moreover, authentic
managers will understand that they are biased in their processing of information.
Relational transparency. Relational transparency can be difficult to develop because
ones motives are not always apparent. Because most managers desire to know, liked,
and trusted, there is a chance that the fear of rejection could provoke managers into
displaying inauthentic behavior. Managers should not withhold information, display
behavior that is inconsistent with their words, and should not be averse to openly
accepting and providing feedback. These behaviors tend to corrode transparency and
reduce trust. Increased levels of trust have been found to result to higher levels of
growth and sustainable performance (Gardner et al., 2005; Nugent and Abolafia, 2006).
Internal moralized perspective. Internal moralized perspective lies at the intersection
of self-regulation and moral perspective. Self-regulation is defined as behaviors that
align with an individuals internal principles, values, and ethics, withstanding the
external pressures from various organizational levels (Heatherton and Baumeister,
1991). Managers should seek to become more aware of their own moral shortcomings
when pressured by these external forces then learn how to act consistent with their
values and principles.

Limitations and future studies

There are some limitations of the present study. The first limitation of this research is
convenience sampling. Convenience sampling is a sampling method used to select a
naturally occurring group within a population. It is possible that this convenience
sampling influenced the sample profile as 75 percent of the respondents with less than
two years or less of tenure. We expected such a relatively low tenure rate based on the
US Bureau of Labor (2014) that reported the median years of employee tenure in the
accommodation and food services industry was 2.1 years, the lowest of all industry
categories in 2014. To more accurately represent the profile of target population, future
studies should consider restating this proposed model by random sampling employees
with large organizations or industry associations. Second, same-source participants
from our study rated the antecedent, mediating, and outcome variables in our study.
Same-source data can be a possible limitation since they present the chance that these
results can be attributed to common-method variance (Podsakoff et al., 2003).
Common-method bias can be abridged by implementing several preemptive strategies
 (such as collecting data from different sources) (Lindell and Whitney 2001; Podsakoff Authentic
et al., 2003). Therefore, future research should recruit subjects from different sources or at leadership
different periods of time to reexamine the relationships presented in the current study.
A third limitation concerns the generalizability of our findings. Participants were
and OC
limited to hospitality employees working in the Southwest, USA. Future studies could
assess the generalizability of our findings by drawing samples from individuals in
other settings or cultures. The theoretical framework developed in this study should be 193
tested in other cultures where being genuine to the self is of less significance or where
word-deed misalignments are seen differently (Yougbaré, 2011). For example, the US
culture is based on individualism, whereas China, Japan, and Korea are based on
collectivism. In addition, the current study only measured one outcome variable. We
encourage researchers to further investigate the validity of authentic leadership in
hospitality contexts by adding other organizational outcome variables, such as
customer satisfaction and employee engagement. Likewise, given the expected
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importance and notoriety of authentic leadership in organizations, future research is

needed that identifies potential antecedents of AL, such as demographic variables, to
aid in developing strategies to select and develop authentic leaders.
Lastly, seven items which fell below the standard were removed from the model for
convergent validity: three items linked to authentic leadership dimensions and three
items to OC. Since this is the first study which empirically tested four authentic
leadership constructs and items to measure these constructs in a hospitality setting,
this finding indicates that some authentic leadership items verified in other settings
may not be suitable for a hospitality setting. Thus, we recommend future studies test
all authentic leadership measurement items in different hospitality settings with more
diverse samples to develop more generalizable and appropriate scales for this industry.
Interestingly, all three OC items removed were negatively worded items. Wang et al.
(2014) argued that “reverse recoding of negatively worded items might not be enough
for them to function as positively worded items do (p. 1)” based on previous studies’
findings such as respondents were more likely to agree with positively worded items
but less likely to disagree with negatively worded items (Weems et al., 2003);
responding to negatively worded items usually required more processing time (Clark,
1976; Chessa and Holleman, 2007); and respondents reread the questions and response
options of negatively worded items more frequently than positively worded ones
(Kamoen et al., 2011). Thus, we suggest future studies either exclude negatively worded
OC measurement items or change these items into positively worded statements.

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Corresponding author
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