The influence of authentic leadership and person organisation fit on pro-social behaviour

M.Phil.Abstract: Orientation: Pro-social behaviour could result in benefits such as increased morale and extra-role behaviour to the benefit of an organisation, and therefore, organisations could encourage their leaders to exhibit authentic leadership to leverage person organisation fit and in turn increase pro-social behaviour of employees. Research purpose: The study was aimed at investigating the relationships between authentic leadership, person organisation fit and pro-social behaviour. Further, the study focused on identifying the influence of authentic leadership and personorganisation fit on pro-social behaviour. The possible mediating effect that person organisation fit has between authentic leadership and pro-social behaviour was explored. Motivation for the study: With the challenges faced by organisations, especially regarding the importance of customer service, employees should not only perform their defined organisational roles but must go beyond these roles and expectations. Pro-social behaviour is seen as taking action to protect the interests of the organisation and co-workers, as well as going beyond role requirements that are specified in an occupation. Research approach, design and method: A quantitative, survey design was used and administered to a sample of employees within a construction and engineering company within, South Africa (N =300). Three measuring instruments were utilised in the study; Exploratory Factor Analysis was conducted on these instruments and the following factor structures and Cronbach Alpha’s were found. A two-factor solution was found for the Authentic Leadership Inventory, these factors were self-awareness, with a Cronbach Alpha of (.927) and internalised moral perspective with a Cronbach Alpha of (.826). Analysis on the Person organisation Fit Scale found a one factor solution with a Cronbach Alpha of (.81). The Pro-Social Organisational Behaviour Scale was found to have a four-factor solution. The four factors were the following: (1) Internal beneficiaries (.822), (2) External beneficiaries (.887) (3) Positive Company Image (.824) and, (4) Positive Company Support (.764). Owing to the skewness of the sample, Spearman’s correlation was utilised to determine the relationship between the variables. Multiple Regression Analysis was utilised to test the mediating effect of..