Authentic Leadership: A Study of the Relationship Between Authentic Leadership and Moral Values

Authentic Leadership: A Study of the Relationship Between Authentic Leadership and Moral Values

Jose Villarreal | 2019

Abstract

The study in this research expounded on the current need in Authentic Leadership (AL) research to better understand the moral aspect of the theory. The approach in this research study design included the comparing the variables of authentic leadership with the variables of Moral Values. An empirical, quantitative correlation field-study was conducted on a random sample of 100 participants in the United States. The Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) was used to measure the four variables of authentic leadership, and the Measure of Moral Values (MMV) was used to measure the four variables of moral values. The four ALQ variables were matched with the four MMV variables resulting in 16 hypotheses. The data collection process consisted of using SurveyMonkey^® through LinkedIn and Facebook. In addition, printed questionnaires were administered in person to ensure the target sample size of participants. The data were uploaded to IBM^® SPSS^®, and a Pearson product-moment correlation analysis was conducted. The correlation analysis showed that 14 of the 16 hypotheses were positively correlated ranging from .28 to .55 at the p < .01 level. In addition, the Cronbach alpha coefficient was .95 for the ALQ and .73 for the MMV. The results indicated that an authentic leader’s morals encompassed the four MMV variables or descriptions, including making judgments based on the spirit of the law rather than just the letter of the law, expressing concern for the welfare of society as a whole, having the capacity to see both sides of an issue, and having concern for the sanctity of the individual. Future research should entail testing other moral variables to authentic leadership variables, as well as research in other countries and cultures.