An Exploratory Enquiry into the Influence of Authentic Leadership on Employee Motivation and Performance in the Organisation.

Abstract

Authentic leadership has been identified as a solution to the current problems that organisations are facing. This research study aims to uncover the influence of authentic leadership on the employees’ motivation and performance. This research study makes use of a case study, limiting the data to a specific organisation to ensure that the study remains focused and enables the researcher to determine a causal relationship. Qualitative interviews were used to understand the participants’ unique experiences. The participants included an authentic leader and three of his subordinates. A thematic analysis was used to organise the data and develop themes related to the research question. The main theme uncovered in this study is that authentic leaders positively influence the organisational environment. The research findings indicate that authentic leadership has a positive influence on employee motivation and performance, however this study was limited to a single authentic leader and needs to be expanded