The Transformational Influence of Authentic Leadership on Followers in Early Career Relationships

Abstract

This chapter presents an interpretative study investigating how followers determine the authenticity of their leaders in the context of their formative managerial work relationships. The findings indicate that working for an authentic leader at an early career stage has a positive and enduring impact on followers' own leadership identities and behavioural preferences throughout their ensuing employment. The study also identifies that, within these early career relationships, authentic leadership is perceived as a more flexible construct than is suggested by current theory. These formative perceptions are oriented more around the leader's ethical, prosocial, and sometimes maverick behaviours, which have a life-enhancing impact on followers by legitimising their own subsequent self-expression and non-conformity at work.