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.
The authors tested a sample of 236 students working as employees in hospitality in the USA, with 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.
Results provide support for the positive effect of authentic leadership on OC in the hospitality industry, and suggest that OC mediates reduced TI.
The results of the study suggest a variety of significant theoretical contributions and critical leadership and organizational implications. The effects of authentic leadership were empirically tested on employees’ OC and the effects of that OC on TI.
