Promoting Authentic Behavior in Organizations: An Attributional Perspective

Abstract

Building on recent theories of authentic leadership, we introduce an attributional framework for understanding authenticity. It is proposed that authenticity implies an accurate and balanced attribution style - a relationship that we argue has been overlooked in past research on authentic leadership. We also suggest that organizations can take an active role in the development of authentic leaders by making leaders aware of the factors that might promote inaccurate attributions. Several techniques for accomplishing this goal are described along with suggestions for future research on the construct of authenticity.