Authentic leadership journey: an empirical discussion from Pakistani higher education employing the lay theory of psychology

Abstract

Purpose

From a lay theory standpoint, the authentic leadership journey has not been perceived together. Both theories are evaluated to determine what may be developed to reflect an authentic leadership journey on an individual's belief of commitment and performance in an organization by evaluating both theories.

Design/methodology/approach

Using simple random sampling, this research used a self-administered questionnaire prepared and distributed to higher education professionals in Islamabad. SPSS (Statistical Package for Social Sciences) was used to compute the data and SmartPLS (partial least squares (PLS)) was used to determine the path analysis.

Findings

A human being's need for authenticity is real, but the perspective is more toward better performance. Authenticity does not mean a person can help businesses achieve every goal. Persons may choose what is essential to them, indicating the inner self-awareness of authentic individuals and allowing members to focus on what matters.

Originality/value

This study shed light on a new phenomenon that can help us better comprehend what means to be an authentic leader.

Citation

Abbas, A., Ekowati, D. and Anwar, A. (2023), "Authentic leadership journey: an empirical discussion from Pakistani higher education employing the lay theory of psychology", International Journal of Public Leadership, Vol. 19 No. 1, pp. 1-13. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJPL-04-2022-0020