Journal of Managerial Psychology

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to investigate the link between authenticity at work and well-being. First, the relationship between authenticity at work and hedonic and eudemonic well-being indexes is assessed. Second, the mediating role of meaning of work in the relationship between authenticity at work and subjective well-being at work is investigated.

Design/methodology/approach – In total, 360 managers from public organizations completed self-reported questionnaires. Multiple hierarchical regressions were used to assess the hypotheses.

Findings – Cognitive and behavioral components of authenticity at work explained a significant proportion of variance in each hedonic and eudemonic well-being indexes. Authenticity is positively associated with well-being at work. Moreover, meaning of work is a partial mediator of the relationship between authenticity and subjective well-being at work.

Practical implications – The results suggest that meaning of work is a mechanism in the relationship between authenticity and subjective well-being at work. The study highlighted a growing need to promote authenticity within organizations since it has been associated with public managers' well-being.

Originality/value – To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study showing the positive relationship between authenticity and well-being in the workplace amongst public organizations managers. It sheds a very new light on the importance of authenticity in work settings and on how it could be linked to meaningfulness in managerial roles.