Publication Date

Summer 2015

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Advisor

Altovise Rogers

Keywords

Authentic Leadership, Leader-Member Exchange, Moderator, Resilience

Subject Areas

Organizational behavior; Management; Occupational psychology

Abstract

The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between resilience and authentic leadership as well the potential spillover of a leader’s resilience onto his or her followers. In addition to the direct effects of a leader’s resilience on followers, potential moderators were also explored, including authentic leadership, relational demography, and leader-member exchange. Responses to an online survey from a total of 145 part- and full-time employees were analyzed using hierarchical multiple regression. Results indicated that there was a strong direct relationship between a leader’ resilience and his or her authentic leadership, however there was no direct relationship between leader and follower resilience. The addition of authentic leadership as a moderator in the relationship between leader and follower resilience yielded significant results. Followers of highly authentic leaders had higher levels of resilience when their leader also had high levels of resilience. Similar results were found for the two leader-member exchange dimensions of loyalty and affect, as well as for dyads in which followers perceived high levels of cognitive similarity with their supervisor. The addition of the leader-member exchange dimensions as a moderator yielded inconsistent results, and followers’ perceptions of demographic similarities with their supervisor did not significantly moderate the relationship. Explanations and implications of these findings are discussed.

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