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Purpose The leadership of entrepreneurs/business founders, as perceived by their employees, has received limited research attention. Using the Authentic Leadership Model as a guiding framework, this study seeks to provide an exploratory examination of the linkage between employees' perception of the business founder as an authentic leader and the employees' attitudes and happiness. Design/methodology/approach Participants are employees ( n =179) of 62 newer, smaller businesses. Each business represented in the study had been founded by a single owner still active in the daily operations of the company. Hierarchical linear modeling was used to analyze the two levels of data (individual and business level) gathered in the study. Findings As hypothesized, the employees' perception of authentic leadership serves as the strongest single predictor of employee job satisfaction ( t =6.453, p =0.000), organizational commitment ( t =6.665, p =0.000), and work happiness ( t =5.488, p =0.000). Research limitations/implications A convenience sampling method limits the generalizability of results. Experimental and longitudinal future research is needed to assess issues of causality as well as the strength and duration of relationships noted. Future research should focus on how the authentic leadership of the founder/entrepreneur impacts not only employee attitudes, but also the performance and long‐term viability of the emerging organization. Originality/value This exploratory study offers the first application of the Authentic Leadership Model within the context of entrepreneurial ventures, and provides new insights into the relationship between entrepreneur/leader behavior and employee attitudes. Findings indicate that if employees in newer, small organizations view their founder/entrepreneur as an authentic leader, it can have a positive impact on their work‐related attitudes and happiness.
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... AL facilitates leaders' successful performance by enabling them to voice their values (Ilies et al., 2005). In this sense, there is a natural connection between SE and AL, as social entrepreneurs require self-awareness and the discovery of their values (Jensen & Luthans, 2006a). Managing innovation and change is a challenge for authentic entrepreneurial leaders. ...
... AL theory emphasizes the importance of self-awareness, values alignment, and reflective practices and offers a powerful tool for understanding the relationship between SE and SI&A (Jensen & Luthans, 2006a). Social entrepreneurs benefit from AL in navigating complex environments, which allows them to connect deeply with their values and life experiences (Mälkki, 2012). ...
... Social entrepreneurs can be considered authentic leaders given the enormous relevance of selfawareness, especially in discovering and implementing their values (Jensen & Luthans, 2006a) and in accordance with their social mission (Defourny & Kim, 2011). Social entrepreneurs must build a clear message based on their most profound convictions in leading innovation and change. ...
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... Similar conceptual clarity concerns led Lemoine et al. (2019) to suggest authentic leadership might be considered alongside ethical leadership and servant leadership as facets of a broader construct they labeled "leaderenvironment moral congruence" and "leader-follower moral congruence." Authentic leadership has also been shown to relate positively to follower outcomes such as empowerment (Walumbwa et al., 2010), job performance (Hoch et al., 2018;Walumbwa et al., 2008;Wong & Cummings, 2009), job satisfaction (Giallonardo et al., 2010;Hoch et al., 2018;Jensen & Luthans, 2006a;Olaniyan & Hystad, 2016;Read & Laschinger, 2015;Walumbwa et al., 2008), organizational commitment (Gatling et al., 2016;Jensen & Luthans, 2006a;Leroy et al., 2012;Rego et al., 2016;Walumbwa et al., 2008), and trust in leadership (Clapp-Smith et al., 2009;Wong et al., 2010;Wong & Cummings, 2009). Further, Wang and Ziano (2023) showed people who are perceived to give specific and unambiguous responses to questions are more likable, honest, and authentic than people who produce ambiguous answers to questions. ...
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If people want to be thought as leaders by others, they must be observed acting in accordance with others' implicit leadership theories. Therefore, prospective leaders are advised to consider whether to change their behavior to influence others' leadership assessments of them. The decision whether or not to instrumentally change behavior to match others' expectations raises authenticity concerns. There is a need to explore the tensions in the relationship between the practical application of ideas emanating from the socially constructed approach to leadership and authenticity. There are four strategies prospective leaders can choose between to navigate their own approach between instrumentally and authenticity. Two of the strategies accept the idea prospective leaders might deliberately change their behaviors; the other two strategies reject the notion. Learning how to reveal other people's implicit leadership theories is an important skill for prospective leaders to acquire so they might make informed decisions about how to adapt their own behaviors. Prospective leaders might consider making conscious decisions about the values and norms they are prepared to accept and the ones they will confront.
... Authentic leadership (AL) has been associated with employee performance (EP) and job satisfaction (JS) of employees (Jensen & Luthans, 2006;Walumbwa et al., 2008). It creates high Stampsquality relationships with the followers (Avolio et al., 2004). ...
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... al., 2010). Third, as stated previously, these positive perceptions could be relevant predictors of the entrepreneur's success (Baron & Markman, 2000;Gardner et al., 2005;Jensen & Luthans, 2006;Leroy et al., 2012;Mason & Stark, 2004;Mason et al., 2019;Nagy et al., 2012;Peus et al., 2012;Svetek, 2022;Wang & Hsieh, 2013). Therefore, we hypothesize a serial indirect effect (see Fig. 1) of constructive patriotism through authenticity (first mediator) and general perceptions (second mediator) on willingness to work for (H4) and fund (H5) the social entrepreneur. ...
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... For female accountants, lower work satisfaction was linked to higher intentions to leave, which is in line with a large body of organizational and accounting literature. S.M. Jensen and F. Luthans (2006) in their study revealed the strongest single predictors of employee job satisfaction (t=6.453, p=0.000), organizational commitment (t=6.665, ...
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