The relationships between authentic leadership, organisational identification, work engagement and turnover intention within the South African work context

MCom (Industrial and Organisational Psychology), North-West University, Potchefstroom CampusLeadership and its impact on organisations have always been a popular and interesting topic among researchers. In recent years, the focus on what makes an organisation successful has shifted from focusing solely on profit, to what an organisation’s purpose beyond profit should be. At the centre of this new focus stands employees and how organisations can maintain their workforce and capitalise on them to become more profitable and build a sustainable future. With an increasing problem in leadership within South Africa, where inconsistency tends to exist between a leader’s words and actions, this study aimed to further explore the authentic leadership style and its positive impacts. According to previously conducted research, an authentic leader (that is truthful, genuine and places strong emphasis on their own values and the enacted values of the organisation) is likely to contribute to a workforce that can personally identify with the organisation and feel more engaged and driven to achieve the organisational objectives, which results in them being less likely to leave their current organisation. Thus, the general objective of this study was to investigate the relationships between authentic leadership, organisational identification, work engagement and turnover intention within the South African work context. Adopting a quantitative, cross-sectional research design, the research data were collected using an online questionnaire distributed to 414 participants within the South African work context. These participants were selected by applying a non-probability, purposive sampling method by means of which the participants were specifically selected in accordance with their fulfilment of the pre-determined research criteria so as to ensure their positive contribution to the research data. The research sample consisted of a population that was diverse regarding their age, gender, ethnicity, educational background, tenure and level of work. In addition, to test the hypotheses formulated, this study explored the relationships between the variables by implementing a latent variable and structural equation model. This was accomplished by testing the goodness-of-fit between the measurement models, determining the Cronbach’s alpha coefficients to evaluate the reliability coefficients between variables and calculate the regression paths with a view to determine the relationship type between the variables. This study made use of a self-reporting questionnaire to explore an employee’s perception of their leaders and how this relates to their own organisational identification and work engagement. According to the results of this study, a significant positive relationship was observed between authentic leadership and both organisational identification and work engagement. In addition, organisational identification also indicated a positive relationship to work engagement. The results also indicated a positive indirect relationship between authentic leadership and work engagement, through organisational identification as a mediating variable. This indicates that the presence of a leadership style that is authentic in nature will lead to an increase in how employees identify themselves within the organisation and to higher levels of engagement. When considering the impact of these variables on an employees’ intention to leave their current organisation, authentic leadership and work engagement indicated a negative relationship with turnover intention. However, despite indicating a negative relationship, the results showed that organisational identification is likely to have no direct effect on turnover intention after indicating a relationship that is considered not meaningful. In addition to this, the results also indicated no indirect relationship between authentic leadership and turnover intention through organisational identification as a mediating variable. This indicates that even when an employee personally identifies with their organisation, it does not necessarily mean that they are any less likely to leave their current employment. However, the results did indicate an indirect effect from authentic leadership on turnover intention; through organisational identification and work engagement; thus indicating that although an employee’s identity in relation to their organisation may not impact their decision to leave their organisation directly, its presence is likely to make employees feel more engaged by becoming personally invested in achieving the organisational objective, resulting in them being more likely to stay with the organisation for as long as they place personal emphasis on achieving the equally valued objectives. To conclude this study, the researcher made use of the study findings to draw conclusions, highlight limitations, and make recommendations for future research and practice.Master