It matters to me! How authentic leadership generates psychological ownership in organizations

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the interrelationship between authentic leadership and followers’ feelings of organization-based psychological ownership.

Design/methodology/approach

This paper uses structural equation modelling to analyze cross-sectional data from almost 200 professionals working in managerial roles in India. It distinguishes between preventive and promotive psychological ownership and investigates the effects of four components of authentic leadership on each.

Findings

What makes people feel attached to an organization? To feel they “belong” and have a personal stake in its performance and future progress? Is it something about the place they go, the work they do or what the organization achieves? Or perhaps, it reflects their feelings about the people they work with – particularly about the person they work for. Authentic leaders certainly have an impact on their followers – so if individuals see their boss as an authentic leader, does it affect their feelings of psychological ownership towards the organization they work for?

Practical implications

This paper shows that authentic leadership – particularly perceptions of the leader’s moral perspective and capacity for balanced processing – has a marked effect on employees’ sense of organization-based promotive psychological ownership.

Social implications

This paper draws attention to the implications for organizations when followers become unduly dependent on an authentic leader.

Originality/value

This paper questions whether territoriality should be considered as a part of psychological ownership or as an entirely separate construct.

Citation

(2014), "It matters to me! How authentic leadership generates psychological ownership in organizations", Strategic Direction, Vol. 30 No. 8, pp. 9-11. https://doi.org/10.1108/SD-08-2014-0095