Authentic Leadership and Job Satisfaction:

Measuring the Mediating Role of Affective Organizationl

Commitment in Healthcare Sector of Pakistan
Muhammad Azeem Qureshi1
Abdur Rahman Aleemi2
Jahangir Hussain Rathore3
ABSTRACT
Lack of ethics, values, morality and integrity of leadership has always been an issue for
corporate world. Keeping in view the disastrous effects of lack of leadership character; this
study aims to determine the impact of authentic leadership on job satisfaction of healthcare
staff with the mediating effect of affective organizational commitment. This is a cross-sectional
hypothesis testing research based on primary data collected from 332 respondents from five
healhcare institutions based in Karachi. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability
analysis and regression analysis were performed to measure the initial validity of constrsuct
and to test proposed hypotheses. The results supported the proposed hypotheses suggesting
that there is a significant impact of authentic leadership on job satisfaction with complete
mediation of affective organizational commitment. Implying that a committed, satisfied and
engaged employee is an asset for any organizations; it will be a loss for any organization to
loose such an employee. Senior management of healthcare organizations should aim to focus
on training of leaders and managers so they can equip themselves with the skills and traits of
authentic leadership; this will not only help organizations to retain quality human resource
but will also help to enhance the positive work environment.

Keywords: Authentic Leadership, Affective Organizational Commitment, Job Satisfaction,

Healthcare.

INTRODUCTION
Leadership is one of the significant core components for organizational sustainability in the
competitive world. As the business world is changing radically with fast pace with different
types of challenges, hence demanding different type of leadership (George, Sims, McLean, &
Mayer, 2007). Unethical practices in the corporate world and inappropriate behavior from
business executives is of great concern for the corporate world resulting lower trust in business
leaders (Francis et al., 2012; 2014). According to National Leadership Index 2009 survey
results, it was also believed by 83% of Americans that benefit to overall society is not the
matter of concern of business leaders but they protect their self-interest or the interest of a
small group while on the other 62% do not trust their leaders.

Organizations need leaders with integrity and strong values who are able to lead with purpose
and make organizations enduring by motivating followers to exert their full potential (George,
2003). Two of the most societal values in Eastern and Western society are integrity and
authenticity (George et al., 2007). Inadequacies of classic leadership models have resulted in
emergence of new type of leadership-“authentic leadership” (Avolio, Gardner, Walumbwa,
Luthans, & May, 2004; Gardner, Avolio, & Walumbwa, 2005; George, 2003). Authentic
1-2. Institute of Business Management-Karachi. Email: [email protected]
3. Agha Khan University Hospital-karachi.
JISR-MSSE Volume 16 Number 1 Jan-June 2018 99
leadership is adaptive with the capability to adjust in accordance with the demands of
challenging working environment (Chan, Hannah, & Gardner, 2005).

Authentic Leadership pays off in the form of a high performance team which results in high
end outcome to an organization. As authentic leadership not only covers the human
behavioural psychology but also highly developed organizational context which results in both
greater self-awareness and self-regulated positive behaviours on the part of leaders which has
a positive impact on their followers in shape of hope, trust, self-confidence, honest and a
vision that supports the ethical and moral values for a successful journey to accomplish the
goals of organization. Therefore, there is a greater need of authentic leadership in highly
innovative organizational culture providing support for innovation, collaboration, equality and
interpersonal relationship development which foster self-development (Gardner, 2017).

Work Engagement is an optimistic approach towards work, and is recognized as the construc-
tive step towards an employee’s health, productivity and job satisfaction. So, it requires
dedication and effort for seamless work performance and high result accomplishment. This
exhibits positive outcomes in an organization which are important for developing work
environments to become more productive. It encompasses the positivity in the behaviour of
the workers that ends in high end performance (Reilly et al., 2012; Secapramana, 2017).
Moment by moment constructive enhancement in key job concerns such as work commitment
and job satisfaction is achieved. Most of the employees always need a work relief in form of
incentives or job recognition which is solely related to a single person himself. Authentic
leadership if utilized correctly can create more positive outcomes in health industry, as the
employees are also engaged well and the precious lives are also not at stake due to weak
organizational setups. In stressful work environment lives of the patients can be taken for
granted and there is a high risk for negative end result which as compared to the other indus-
tries cannot be taken lightly as the high risk factor is a life and not a product (Stanley et al.,
2017).

Furthermore, micro and macro determinants of organizational deterioration and long term
success of an organization have been linked to be influenced by prevailing leadership styles.
Authentic leadership and its impact on different organizational aspects have proved to be
significant in different recent studies. Scarcity of authentic leadership traits and their impact
on employee attitude in subcontinent has created an urge for scholars to measure its impact on
different attitudinal outcomes of followers (de Aquino et al., 2017). Job satisfaction and work
engagement have been the issue of key importance in healthcare sector because of intense
working conditions such as occupational stress which is further influenced by Affective Orga-
nizational Commitment. This study, in particular, is mainly directed to find out the impact of
authentic leadership on job satisfaction through mediating effect of affective organizational
commitment in Pakistan's healthcare industry.

Given the above discussion, it is evident that growth of every organization is very much
dependent on the pivotal role played by authentic leadership (Scandura, 2017). There are many
studies which have been carried out to find out the impact of authentic leadership on employee
engagement, their level of stress, job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment;
however, no significant work has been carried out to the best of our knowledge in context of
healthcare sector of Pakistan. The model we created is based on the multidisciplinary approach
100 Jan-June 2018 Volume 16 Number 1 JISR-MSSE
to study the authentic leadership, impact on job satisfaction of employees through their affec-
tive commitment in healthcare sector of Pakistan. To conduct this study, different stakeholders
were selected as subjects like Physicians, Nurses, Allied Health workers and Administrative
staff. Determination of the impact of proposed variables used in the study on the job perfor-
mances of physicians, nurses and allied health workers will help the organizations and will
help opting appropriate measures to devise desired strategy.

REVIEW OF LITERATURE

Authentic Leadership
Over the last few years, authentic leadership has been the point of interest for researchers.
Authentic leadership means a leader with the abilities to transform his/her leadership in
accordance with his/her characteristics, who can demonstrate ability to prioritize things in
accordance with the demand of situation or society, who has the ability to process information
about feelings, goals, beliefs and values (Chan, Hannah, & Gardner, 2005; George, 2007;
Walumbwa, Wang, Wang, Schaubroeck, & Avolio, 2010). According to a study conducted by
Begley (2006); May, Hodges, Chan, & Avolio (2003) and Novicevic et al. (2006) people with
higher levels of self-regulation manage their own responses in order to match the required
ethical standards. It shows that leaders with negative sense cannot become authentic leaders
(Fields, 2007). Integrity is the virtue for any leader to be assumed as the authentic leader
(Cooper, Scandura, & Schriesheim, 2005). Similarly, open and transparent relations with peers
and subordinates are called relational transparency which includes true representation / acting
of him/her-self. According to Gardner et al. (2005) leaders that demonstrate self-disclosure,
openness are those who gains trust and are in close relations with subordinates. It helps to
develop trust through the leader–subordinate relationship by sharing true feelings, thoughts
and information (Kernis, 2003).

Apart from these attributes, Luthans & Avolio (2003) have also discussed that there are two
more elements of authentic leaderships; positive psychological capacity and personal positive
development. To achieve viable competitive advantages, positive psychological capacity
plays an anchor part for the development of teams, communities, organizations and
individuals (Avolio & Gardner, 2005; Luthans & Avolio, 2003). For the development of
authentic leadership, positive modeling process and the positive emotions are key components
of the process (Gardner et al., 2005). Conversely, cynicism towards devoted linkage of
authentic leadership and positive psychological resources was discussed by (Shamir and
Eilam, 2005; Endrissat et al., 2007; Luthans et al., 2017).

Self-awareness, relational transparency, internalized moral perspective and balanced

processing are the four most important dimensions of authentic leadership (Penger and Cerne,
2014; Walumbwa et al., 2008). Self-awareness means to know about him/her-self and to be
one by self-examination; it provides them with the ability to analyze and observe their
feelings, thoughts, aspirations and mental state which ultimately help them to learn and accept
their fundamental motives, feelings, value and identity (Avolio & Gardner, 2005). Recalling
what has happened throughout the life (important events) and their associated emotions and
reactions can trigger internal connection with one’s true self (Ladkin & Taylor, 2010). Fact
full and unbiased analysis of information prior to making any decision is called balanced
processing; which prevents the leader to make bias decision. It also promotes balanced and
JISR-MSSE Volume 16 Number 1 Jan-June 2018 101
accurate perception free from egoistic and self-judgmental (Gardner, Fischer, & Hunt, 2009).
Leaders that possess ethical standards and values without being pressurized by any external
elements come under the category of internalized moral perspective.

Snyder and Lopez (2002), Sheldon and King (2001) and Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi
(2000) discussed the positive psychology and how it is being emerged as a tool to counter the
prevailing negativity at work places. Avolio & Gardner (2005); Avolio et al. (2004); Avolio &
Luthans, (2006); Luthans & Avolio (2003) provided their definition authentic leadership.
Authentic leadership was defined as: “a process that draws from both positive psychological
capacities and a highly developed organizational context, which results in both greater
self-awareness and self-regulated positive behavior on the part of leaders and employees,
fostering positive self-development. The authentic leader is confident, hopeful, optimistic,
resilient, transparent, moral/ethical, future-oriented, and gives priority to developing
employees to be leaders (Luthans & Avolio, 2003, p. 243).”

Avolio & Luthans (2006 & 2003) have presented the new theory of authentic leadership by
converging the concept of positive organizational behavior proposed by Luthans (2002a,
2003b), ethical development by May et al. (2003), and transformational leadership by Avolio
(1999 & 2002), despite the fact that Henderson and Hoy (1983) had originally discussed a
decade ago the conceptualizations of authentic leadership in the management and academic
literature by George (2003). The foundation is built upon the earlier positive (Luthans et al.,
2002), ethical (Bass & Steidlmeier, 1999) and transformational (Avolio, 1999, 2002; Avolio
& Gibbons, 1988) methods to lead in the current era’s challenging and uncertain environment.

Authentic leadership is responsible for instilling the positive attitudes and behaviors in
subordinates (Rego, Sousa, Marques, & e Cunha, 2012). For instance, Penger & Cerne (2014)
by using the model suggested by Walumbwa, Gardner, Avolio, Wernsing and Peterson (2008)
examined the authentic leadership’s from the employees’ perspective. They focused on to
explain that how authentic leadership influences work engagement and job satisfaction at all
levels and to do so they acquired data from supervisors and their subordinates. They also
examined that how perceived superiors’ support (through an employee’s perspective) can
mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and the work engagement & job
satisfaction. The perceived supervisor support was examined by Penger & Cerne (2014) and
Eisenberger et al., (2002) with mediating role between authentic leadership and employee
outcomes based on the theories proposed by Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa
(1986). Organizational Support Theory by Settoon, Bennett, & Liden, 1996; Wayne, Shore
&Liden (1997) – Social Exchange Theories, and the Gouldner (1960) – The Norm of
Reciprocity. They discussed the importance of the approach as it leads to further experiential
indication on how authentic leadership can result positive outcomes in job satisfaction and
work engagement from the employees’ perspective. More recently, (Sinclair, 2018) explores
the role of supervisors’ influence on counselor’s satisfaction leading to counselors’ turnover.

ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT
The focal point of discussion among the researchers over few decades has been on
organizational commitment. Many studies have been carried out to understand the significance
and types of organizational commitment (Chughtai & Zafar, 2006). An employee’s
commitment always plays a pivotal role in the success and growth of any organization.
102 Jan-June 2018 Volume 16 Number 1 JISR-MSSE
Researches have shown that commitment is negatively related to turnover, absenteeism,
counterproductive behavior, and is positively related to job satisfaction, motivation and
organizational citizenship behaviors (Cooper-Hakim & Viswesvaran, 2005; Farrel & Stamm,
1988; Dalal, 2005; Riketta, 2002; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Chughtai & Zafar, 2006; Fazio et
al., 2017). Positive relations amid organizational commitment and job performance have also
been shown in the study conducted by (Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly, Goffin, & Jackson, 1989).

Lower determination of employee and fewer measures of philanthropy and amenability

towards the employee are also the major elements of low level of commitment by an employee
(DeCottis & Summers, 1987; Schappe, 1998; Li et al., 2017). Organization’s ability to recruit
good human resource can get hampered because of the non-committed employees, as they
portray negative pictures to the outsiders which resulting in reluctance by them to join the
organization (Mowday, Porter, & Steers, 1982). All these findings have imperative
repercussions on organization theories and the management practices (Hayes, 2018).

According to many researches, age, service lengths, marital status are the factors which
contribute to the organizational commitment’s positive development in the organization
(Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Luthans, McCaul, & Dodd, 1985; John & Taylor, 1999), and
negatively related to the employee’s level of education (Glisson & Durick, 1988).
Commitment of an employee is also related to few more characteristics like empowerment,
feedback from the leadership, challenges, work experiences, promotion, mentoring
opportunities and support from leadership (Dunham, Grube, & Castaneda, 1994; Hutchison &
Garstka, 1996; Gaertner & Nollen, 1989; DeCottis& Summers, 1987; Meyer, Irving, & Allen,
1998; Scandura, 1997; Yousef, 1998; Chughtai & Zafar, 2006).

According to Meyer and Allen (1997), there are three sets of theories or beliefs have shown a
strong and consistent connection with organizational commitment: 1) Supportiveness of
organization (Eisenberger, Fasolo, & Davis-LaMastro, 1990), 2) Fair treatment of employees
(McFarlin & Sweeny, 1992), 3) Organization’s part in letting employees realized about their
competence and worth (Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Steers, 1977; Argyris, 2017). Meyer and
Allen (1997) also discussed that the perceptions of employees are related to organization
commitment. For instance, policies like promotion, performance rewards and satisfaction of
job security can contribute to gauge the organization justice and empowerment of employee
can lead to perception of personal competence. In a recent bid, this idea has also been echoed
by (Syed & Kramar, 2017).

Researcher have discussed that age factor is positively related to organizational commitment
(Steers, 1977; Mathieu & Zajac, 1990; Angle & Perry, 1981). This is because of the fewer
employment opportunities are there for the older people (Mowday et al., 1982). Following
factors were also identified in the study conducted by Chughtai & Zafar (2006): T e n u r e ,
Marital Status, Education, Job Involvement, Trust, Promotion Opportunities, and
Compensation, Relationships with peers’ relationship with Supervisors, Job Security, Job
Satisfaction, Work Environment and Training Opportunities.

Those individuals who are committed with the organization are categorized as the assets. It is
important for supervisors to provide positive feedback of employee’s on regular basis to
motivate them (Murphy & Louis, 2018). Somers & Birnbaum (1998) worked to find the
JISR-MSSE Volume 16 Number 1 Jan-June 2018 103
association between organizational commitment and feedback about performance of
employees, although they indicated that job performance is positively associated with
commitment to work but link between job performance and organizational commitment could
not be established. Emotional and normative commitments were also found unrelated to the
job performance.

It was discussed in a study conducted by Lee and Olshfski (2002) that whenever individuals
take jobs, they act according to the requirement of their job based on their understanding of
their roles attached to the job and their commitment to perform that task. Nature of
organizational commitment was also discussed by Suliman & Lles (2000), three-dimensional
concept of organizational commitment was found. Positive relationship between
organizational commitment and job performance was also discovered by them. It was further
indicated by them that the positive and negative relationships with age, gender, education, job
status, and length of job are linked with organizational commitment. Similar suggestions can
also be found in (Yahaya & Ebrahim, 2016).

Relationship of the organizational commitment, communication and job performance was

studied in a research conducted by Chen, Silverthrone & Hung (2006), they pointed out the
positive relationships between communication, commitment and job performance. It was
found that organizations that tend to increase the organizational commitment focus on
enhancing the channels of communication and process. Another research Clarke (2006) found
that commitment can play a significant role precisely with performance outcomes.
Performance is substantially impacted by affective and normative; Normative commitment
was negatively associated with group performance while affective commitment’ association
was positively related to network performance (Clark, 2006). According to a study conducted
by Rashid, Sambasvani & Joari (2003) shows that the far reaching impact of corporate culture
and organizational commitment has been observed on the performance.

JOB SATISFACTION
Although the job satisfaction has been a point of interest amongst the scientific researchers for
many years but no agreement can be found amongst many researchers due to the versatility
and different natures of jobs of different people. Therefore determination of the nature of job
is of utmost importance to gauge the level of satisfaction (Aziri, 2011). Combination of
environmental, physiological and psychological circumstances can let a person decide the
satisfaction level of his or her job (Fleury-Bahi, 2016). Many external factors can influence job
satisfaction, however, the major contributing factor remains the internal for example the way
employee feels about his or her job (Aziri, 2011; Hoppock, 1935). The job role of any
employee can also play a significant role in his or feeling about the satisfaction (Aziri, 2011;
Vroom, 1964). Feeling of any employee about his or job is the most discussed and common
definition of job satisfaction presented by Spector (Aziri, 2011). The liking or disliking of
people about their jobs and their feelings both positive and negative towards their jobs are the
elements of job satisfaction. Whenever someone gets employed he or she has expectations
which he or she brings to that organization; the job satisfaction is the degree to which his / her
expectations are met, hence, individual’s behavior at workplace reflects the level of job
satisfaction (Borkowski, 2015). Success and sense of achievement at the job by the employee
can be called job satisfaction. The way one feels about the job, his achievements, his rewards
for the efforts he put to get a job done falls under the category of job satisfaction. It is a mixture
104 Jan-June 2018 Volume 16 Number 1 JISR-MSSE
of rewards, recognition, compensation and the career advancements (Kaliski, 2007; Aziri,
2011). Combination of beliefs and feelings about the job is also called job satisfaction. The
level of job satisfaction varies from a person to person, people can either be satisfied or
dissatisfied based on their level of feelings, their compensation, work environment, chances of
career advancements, coworkers and subordinates (Aziri, 2011; George et al., 2008).
According to Armstrong (2006), the feelings and attitude of people towards their job can best
describe their level of satisfaction; the positive attitude describes their higher level of
satisfaction and the negative attitude of people towards their jobs describes their lower level of
attitude.

METHODOLOGY

RESEARCH METHOD
Five different private healthcare institutions of Karachi were identified to conduct this study.
A sample of 332 employees consisting of paramedical, technicians, physicians and
administrative staff were selected from those healthcare institutes. Convenience sampling
technique was used to gather all the data. The study model was designed to examine the impact
of authentic leadership on employees’ engagement, affective organizational commitment and
job satisfaction. The model was developed on the basis of above mentioned variables
depicting the Authentic Leadership as independent variable and Job Satisfaction as dependent
variable while affective organizational commitment has been taken as a mediating variable. A
questionnaire was self-administered among these institutions. Data analysis was performed
using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23. Regression, reliability and
correlation analysis were performed to measure the level of association among variables and
the level of change occurred in independent variables with the change in dependent variables.
To uncover the mediating effect, we employ the method proposed by Judd & Kenny (1982) to
measure the indirect effect. The indirect effect is the amount of mediation equals to the
reduction of the effect of the causal variable on the outcome or ab = c - c'. In contemporary
mediation analyses, the indirect effect is the measure of the amount of mediation.

MEASURES
Authentic Leadership was assessed with the instrument developed by Neider & Schrieshein
(2011). Whereas Job Satisfaction was assessed with the Minnesota Satisfaction Questionnaire
(Weiss et al., 1967) also known as MCQ 20. Similarly, for Organizational Commitment
(Meyer et al, 1999) instrument was adopted to measure the affective organizational
commitment which is comprised of six items. However, one item was dropped during
model-fit in AMOS as it was having insignificant factor loading. All the items were measured
on five points Likert scale ranging from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 5 (“strongly agree”). Higher
scores were considered as signs of high level of authentic leadership, high level of job
satisfaction and high level of affective organizational commitment respectively. The reliability
(Cronbach’s alpha) was found to be 0.96, 0.97 and 0.94 for ‘Authentic Leadership’, ‘Job
Satisfaction’ and ‘Affective organizational commitment’ respectively which shows that the
data is significantly reliable.

JISR-MSSE Volume 16 Number 1 Jan-June 2018 105

DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULTS

MODEL SUMMARY
On the basis of extensive review of relevant literature it can be hypothesized that authentic
leadership enhances job satisfaction. This occurs through a mediating mechanism of affective
organizational commitment. We argue on the basis of Leader-Member Exchange (LMX)
theory that followers tend to maintain equitable social exchange in response to the treatment
they receive from their leaders (Blau, 1964; Dienesch & Liden, 1986). In this respect, we argue
that when leaders treat their subordinates with authentic behavior, subordinates responds to
such treatment in the form of enhanced organizational commitment which leads to increased
job satisfaction. These outcomes can easily be abridged in the given model below suggesting
mediation of affective commitment between authentic behavior and job satisfaction.

Figure-1: Model Summary. Authors’ estimations

Following the research methodology discussed in the preceding chapter, we have performed
the data analysis in order to determine the significance of the internal reliability of the data as
well as CFA (Confirmatory Factor Analysis) in this section. Furthermore structural Equation
Modeling (SEM) was employed using AMOS V.23 to measure model fit. This section also
reports respondents’ profile in a self-explanatory schedule (Table 1) and indirect and direct
effect of mediating variable and independent variable.

106 Jan-June 2018 Volume 16 Number 1 JISR-MSSE

 Numbers Percentage
Gender Female 206 62
Male 126 38
Age 20 to 30 years 90 27
31 to 40 years 139 42
41 to 50 years 90 27
51 years and above 17 5
Marital Status Married 159 48
Unmarried 173 52
Education Undergraduate 222 67
Graduate 110 33
Table-1: Respondents’ Profile

CFA (Confirmatory Factor analysis) was also performed to confirm the validity of the
instruments used. All goodness of fit indices have significant values falling in acceptable
range (CMIN/DF(ϰ2/df)=1.7, GFI=0.91, SRMR=0.07, NFI=0.96, TLI=0.97, RMSEA=0.70).
Furthermore, in order to uncover the direct effect among our proposed variables, linear
regression was performed with the results being displayed in Table 2, indicating a statistically
significant positive relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction. In addition,
Goodness of model fit can be determined through standardized coefficient of correlation (R) =
0.54. Coefficient of determination (R2) explains 29% variance in dependent variable with
respect to change in independent variable while overall model is also observed to be
significant. One unit change in authentic leadership results 0.67 unit change in job satisfaction
and causal relationship is significant.

Similarly, the results for indirect effect are displayed through table 3; indicating that the direct
effect of authentic leadership on job satisfaction decreases when mediating variable intervened
the initial model which indicates the complete mediation of Affective Organizational
Commitment between Authentic Leadership and Job Satisfaction. In addition, standardized
coefficient of correlation (R) = 0.71 shows strong goodness of model fit which demonstrate
strong correlation among variables. Coefficient of determination (R2) explains 50% variance
in dependent variable with respect to change in independent variables which is higher with the
induction of mediating variable, thus giving strength to proposed model. Overall model is
significant. Coefficient table shows one unit change in authentic leadership resulting 0.03 unit
change in job satisfaction while the organizational commitment is changed by 0.67 unit with
respect to one unit change in job satisfaction. The causal relationship has become insignificant
with the induction of mediating variable.

Finally, mediation summary has been presented in Table 4, indicating; coefficient of

determination with direct effect (R2 = 0.29) becomes stronger with the induction of mediating
variable (R2 = 0.49) that enhance the significance of model while the value of β coefficient
decreases when mediating variable is introduced in model from its initial value. Authentic
leadership was explaining job satisfaction significantly until the affective organizational
commitment (mediator) was introduced in the model that made the cause-effect relationship
insignificant which is a clear indication of complete mediation.

JISR-MSSE Volume 16 Number 1 Jan-June 2018 107

REGRESSION ANALYSIS: DIRECT EFFECT
Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .538a .290 .284 .983
a. Predictors: (Constant), Authentic Leadership
ANOVA
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 51.271 1 51.271 53.042 .000a
Residual 125.661 130 .967
Total 176.932 131
a. Predictors: (Constant), Authentic Leadership
b. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction
Coefficients
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) 1.084 .346 3.137 .002
Authentic Leadership .673 .092 .538 7.283 .000
a. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction
Table-2: Direct Effect

REGRESSION ANALYSIS: INDIRECT EFFECT

Model Summary
Model R R Square Adjusted R Square Std. Error of the Estimate
1 .706a .499 .491 .829
a. Predictors: (Constant), Affective Org. Commitment, Authentic Leadership
ANOVA
Model Sum of Squares df Mean Square F Sig.
1 Regression 88.307 2 44.153 64.268 .000a
Residual 88.625 129 .687
Total 176.932 131
a. Predictors: (Constant), Affective Org. Commitment, Authentic Leadership
b. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction
Coefficients
Unstandardized Standardized
Coefficients Coefficients
Model B Std. Error Beta t Sig.
1 (Constant) .833 .293 2.840 .005
Authentic Leadership .033 .117 .026 .280 .780
Affective Org. .668 .091 .687 7.342 .000
Commitment
a. Dependent Variable: Job Satisfaction
Table-2: Direct Effect
108 Jan-June 2018 Volume 16 Number 1 JISR-MSSE
 Constructs R2 Adj. R2 β F Statistics Sig.
Direct Effect Al-JS 0.290 0.284 0.673 53.042 0.000
Indirect Effect AL-JS 0.499 0.491 0.033 64.268 0.780
Table-4: Summary of Mediation

CONCLUSION
Lack of ethics, values, morality and integrity of leadership has always been an issue for
corporate world. Keeping in view the disastrous effects of lack of leadership character; this
study aims to determine the impact of authentic leadership on job satisfaction of healthcare
staff with the mediating effect of affective organizational commitment. In a cross-sectional
hypothesis testing setting, we survyed 332 respondents from five healhcare institutions based
in Karachi. Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), reliability analysis and regression analysis
were performed to measure the initial validity of constrsuct and to test proposed hypotheses.
We performed CFA (Confirmatory Factor analysis) to validate our proposed structural model
specified on the basis of profuse literature. We also explored direct and direct relationships
between the aforementioned variables through linear regression and adopted (Judd & Kenny,
1982) procedure to uncover mediation. All goodness of fit indices were found to be
statistically significant. We uncovered both the direct and indirect effects and observed that
the direct effect of authentic leadership on job satisfaction decreases when mediating variable
intervened the initial model which indicates the complete mediation of Affective
Organizational Commitment between Authentic Leadership and Job Satisfaction. These
findings are consistent with most of the contemporary literature. Based on our findings, it can
be argued that Affective Organizational Commitment completely mediates the relationship
between Authentic Leadership and Job Satisfaction of the healthcare staff working in private
sector hospitals in Karachi. A committed, satisfied and engaged employee is always an asset
for any organizations; it will be a loss for any organization to loose such an employee. Senior
management of healthcare organizations should aim to focus on training of leaders / managers
so they can equip themselves with the skills and traits of authentic leadership; this will not only
help organizations to retain quality human resource but will also help to enhance the positive
work environment.

This study was conducted in private healthcare sector of Karachi; hence the impact of
authentic leadership could have only been measured for one sector and one city. This study can
be replicated in different industries and different cities of Pakistan. Besides, in this study we
aim to find out the overall impact of authentic leadership on job satisfaction with mediation of
affective organizational commitment, future studies can also be done to find out if this impact
varies with change in demographic or psychographic characteristics of the respondents.

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