Authentic Leadership, Leader Ethical Value and Follower’s Belief about Corporate Social Responsibility : A Moderated Mediation Model

Abstract

There has been increasing attention paid to how leaders influence their followers’ perceptions of the importance of ethics and corporate social responsibility (CSR) for organizational effectiveness. However, few empirical studies have investigated the impact of authentic leadership on followers’ CSR attitudes. This study investigated the relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ CSR belief in Korean manufacturing and service companies. Moreover, the study examined the complex process and condition underlying this relationship by exploring the mediating role of leader ethical value and moderating role of trust on leader. Based on empirical analysis on 220 survey data from Korean employees working in manufacturing and service firms, the results indicated that authentic leadership was significantly related to employees’ CSR belief and that leader ethical value mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ CSR belief. Additionally, trust on leader moderated the relationship between leader ethical value and employees’ CSR belief. Finally, trust on leader moderated the mediating effect of authentic leadership on employees’ CSR belief via leader ethical value. We discuss the theoretical and practical implications of these findings.