Does authentic leadership predict employee work engagement and in-role performance? Considering the role of learning goal orientation

Abstract. This study sought to examine whether and why authentic leadership predicts followers’ in-role performance and did so in a four-wave, multi-level, multi-source field study conducted in the banking sector in Pakistan. Working from the notion that authentic leadership fosters followers’ focus on developing their true self; we suggest authentic leadership predicts followers’ learning goal orientation. Given that learning goal orientation strongly impacts on how people approach and experience their work, in turn, we expected that learning goal orientation determines followers’ work engagement, and their in-role performance. Results indicated learning goal orientation mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and (a) follower performance and (b) work engagement.