An Examination of the Relationship between Authentic Leadership and Psychological Well-Being and the Mediating Role of Meaningfulness at Work

Previous studies have examined the relationship between charismatic-types of leadership and well-being but not specifically authentic leadership which gives importance to how leaders are intrinsically composed rather than mere behaviours. This study explored whether authentic leadership and well-being are related and whether meaningfulness of work mediates this relationship. Well-being was measured from two perspectives namely hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. 123 participants completed a questionnaire survey while correlational and mediation analyses, using the Sobel Z test with bootstrapped samples, were used to answer the research questions. Results revealed that authentic leadership is both related to subjective well-being and to flow. In addition, meaningfulness of work partially mediated the relationship between leadership and subjective wellbeing but fully mediated the relationship with flow. The results are discussed in view of their theoretical and practical implications. Finally, a series of limitations are provided to secure the interpretative boundaries of the results obtained.