Authentic Leadership and Service Innovative Behavior: Mediating Role of Proactive Personality

Abstract

The present study aims to examine the effect of authentic leadership (AL) on service innovative behavior (SIB) of employees as well as to identify whether proactive personality (PP) mediates this connection at an individual level. The quantitative cross-sectional study design was utilized to gather information from a study sample which consisted of 428 front-line employees (FLE) working at banks located in North Cyprus. Specifically, the study uses confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), correlation, structural equation modeling (SEM), and bootstrapping techniques to test the hypothesized relationships. The results reveal that both AL and PP have a significant positive effect on SIB; AL has a positive impact on PP of FLE, and PP plays a partial mediating role between AL and SIB of FLE. By relating the study findings, authenticity and proactivity in the banking sector in North Cyprus play a critical role in fostering the innovative behaviors of FLE. The study also discusses the practical and managerial implications, as well as the future scope.