How Authentic Leadership Shapes Bank Employees’ Work Engagement: A Moderated Mediation

In order to explore how authentic leadership shapes banking employees' work engagement, we conducted a three-wave study among 300 employees from a large bank in northeastern China by measuring their perception of authentic leadership, power distance orientation, identification with supervisor, psychological empowerment and work engagement. The results showed that identification with supervisor and psychological empowerment fully mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement and that the indirect effect of identification with supervisor is further moderated by employees' power distance orientation. Specifically, this indirect effect is stronger among employees with high (vs. low) levels of power distance orientation. This study therefore reveals the mechanism and boundary conditions of the effects of authentic leadership on employees' work engagement in the banking industry. Specifically, authentic leadership can promote employees' work engagement through their identification with supervisor and psychological empowerment; among employees with high levels of power orientation, the effect of authentic leadership on their engagement through identification with supervision is more salient. The practical implications were further discussed.