Relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction moderating roles of self efficacy and optimism , luận văn thạc sĩ

TRAN GIANG PHONGRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP AND JOB SATISFACTION & MODERATING ROLES OF SELF-EFFICACY AND OPTIMISM.. TRAN GIANG PHONGRELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHENTIC LEADERSH

TRAN GIANG PHONG

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP AND JOB SATISFACTION & MODERATING ROLES OF SELF-EFFICACY

AND OPTIMISM.

MASTER THESIS OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATOR

HO CHI MINH CITY – 2012

TRAN GIANG PHONG

RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP AND JOB SATISFACTION &

MODERATING ROLES OF SELF-EFFICACY

DR PHAM QUOC HUNG

HO CHI MINH CITY – 2012

I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to the following for their commitment, guidance and support:

My family, my father and my mother for your unwavering love,

Respectful lecturers of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City, who have empowered me with considerably useful knowledge during the time

I studied in the University, especially Dr Pham Quoc Hung, who have heartedly instructed me to approach relevant matters in reality, scientific research methods, as well as the contents of the subject.

whole-Students of the eMBA – K19 course, University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City for kindly helping me collect information necessary for the study.

My friends and work colleagues, who support me to collect data as well

as emotional support during the completion of this thesis.

Although the author has tried the best to complete the thesis, but errors could not be comprehensively avoided Therefore, the author is looking forward to receiving the inputs and comments from respectful lecturers and friends, so that the thesis could be more and more improved.

Tran Giang Phong

Ho Chi Minh, 26 Oct 2012

I would like to commit that this thesis, “relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction & moderating roles of self-efficacy and optimism”, was accomplished based on my independent and serious studies and scientific researches The data was collected in reality and it has clear origins In addition to that, the data would be trust-worthily handled and it has never been released in any menu.

Tran Giang Phong

CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY 4

1.1 Research background 4

1.2 Research objectives: 5

1.3 Research scope and approach: 6

1.4 Research structure 6

CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES 8

2.1 Authentic leadership 8

2.1.1 Authenticity 8

2.1.2 Dimensions of authentic leadership 9

2.2 Job satisfaction 14

2.2.1 Definition 14

2.2.2 Role of job satisfaction 15

2.2.3 Determinants of job satisfaction 16

2.3 The influence of authentic leadership on job satisfaction 18

2.4 Self-efficacy 18

2.5 Optimism 20

2.6 Summary 21

CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY 23

3.1 Research design 23

3.2 Questionnaire development 24

3.2.1 Authentic leadership 24

3.2.2 Job satisfaction 25

3.2.3 Optimism and Self-Efficacy 25

3.3 Translation of the questionnaire 26

3.4 The pilot study 27

3.4.1 Pilot study phase 1 27

3.4.2 Pilot study phase 2 28

3.5 Target population 28

3.6 Sample size 29

3.7 Selecting the sample and collecting data 29

3.8 Sample characteristics 30

3.9 Methods of data analysis 31

3.9.1 Data screening 31

3.9.2 Reliability 31

3.9.3 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) 31

3.9.4 Correlation analysis 33

3.9.5 Multiple regressions 34

3.9.6 Independent Samples T-test 35

3.9.7 Summary 35

CHAPTER 4: DATA ANALYSIS 36

4.1 Data cleaning 36

4.2 Profiles of qualified respondents 36

4.3 Reliability of the measurements 39

4.4 Confirmatory factor analysis 40

4.5 Correlation analysis 41

4.6 Hypotheses testing 44

4.6.1 Effects of authentic leadership, self-efficacy and optimism on job satisfaction: 44

4.6.2 Moderating effects of self-efficacy and optimism on the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction 45

4.7 Independent Samples T-test 49

4.8 Summary 50

CHAPTER 5: DISCUSSION 51

5.1 Discussions of findings: 51

5.2 Practical implications 52

5.3 Limitations and recommendations for future research: 54

REFERENCE: 55

Appendix 65

Appendix 1: Questionnaires 65

Appendix 2: result of reliability test of the measurements 71

Appendix 3: result of confirmatory factor analysis 73

Appendix 4: result of regression analysis 76

Figure 2-1: the hypothesized model……… ……… ……….……… 22

Figure 3-1: The Research Process ……….……….………24

Figure 4-1: CFA model……….……… ….………41

Figure 4-2: effect of interaction between authentic leadership and optimism on job satisfaction… 49

Table 3-1: Assessing Fit Indices……….………33

Table 4-1: Socio-demographic Characteristics of The Qualified Samples……….……….38

Table 4-2: Summary of Cronbach Alpha Measures Across Variables……….………39

Table 4-3: Assessing Fit Indices – Hypothesized Model……… ….………… 40

Table 4-4: correlation……….………….…43

Table 4-5: result of regression analysis of authentic leadership on job satisfaction……….…44

Table 4-6: result of regression analysis of moderating effect of self-efficacy and optimism in 3 groups ……… …46

Table 4-8: Independent Samples T-test: difference of job satisfaction level on gender of respondents ……….………50

CHAPTER 1:

INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY

Neither reputation, customers, technology nor physical resources, human resource

is the most important asset which makes organization successful Without goodmanpower, organization could not develop their business Retaining the talents inorganization is an emergent challenge that every organization must consider According

to Berry (1997), organization must improve job satisfaction of employees to besuccessful Robbins & Judge (2007) found that the effective organization usually hadmore satisfied employees Moreover, satisfied employees are more likely productive Inshort, improving employees’ satisfaction is an essential solution for an organization to besuccessful

The practice of leadership has existed for thousands of years and research effortshave been undertaken to better understand leadership in organizations for well over 50years (Bass, 1990) Leaders and leadership play an important role in organizations in theway that effective leaders are related to successful team work, high morale, and effectiveperformance; and on the contrary, ineffective leaders are related to job dissatisfaction,low commitment, and ineffective performance (Avolio & Bass, 2002; Bass, 1998; 1999;Collins, 2001a, 2001b; Day, Zaccaro, & Halpin, 2004)

We also have seen some big scandals in ethical leadership in the world as well as

in Vietnam In Vietnam, according to Thuc (2011), some big organizations such as HàngHải Đông Đô, Masan Group, Quoc Cuong Gia Lai announced to investors that they madelarge profit, but actually, they lost a lot In international level, we also know the bigdecrease of ethical leadership of the top managers of WorldCom, Enron, General Motorsand Lehman Brothers in U.S Together with new societal challenge such as terrorism,

aging society, and environmental pollution… these destroy the trust of investors Inreality, according to National Leadership Index 2009, 63% of Americans do not trustwhat business leaders say and 83% believe that business leaders work to merely theirbenefit or a small group with special interests, not society overall In the difficultsituation, there is an urgent need of the positive and more genuine leadership (Avolio &Gardner, 2005) Reliability, integrity and authenticity are the essential characteristics ofthe business leaders in this situation (Blausten, 2009).

In the light of current developments in global business, a new construct emerged:authentic leadership Authentic leadership refers to the extent to which an individualexhibits a pattern of openness and clarity in his or her behavior towards others by sharingthe necessary information to make decisions, accepting other’s inputs, and disclosing his

or her personal values, motives and sentiments in a manner that enables followers tomore accurately assess the competence and morality of the leader’s actions Businesspractitioners are calling for leaders who lead with purpose, values, and integrity, leaderswho build enduring organizations, motivate their employees to provide customer service,and create long-term value for shareholder

1.2 Research objectives:

In this study, the author examines the effects of authentic leadership behaviors onfollowers’ job satisfaction while also taking into account possible moderating roles ofself-efficacy and optimism to the relationship authentic leadership and job satisfaction.Accordingly, the study aims at answering the research questions: “How does authenticleadership influence follower job satisfaction?” and “what are the moderating roles ofself-efficacy and optimism between authentic leadership and job satisfaction?”

In order to answer to this research question, the following four sub-questions areaddressed in this research:

satisfaction?

2 How does self-efficacy play a moderating role in the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction?

authentic leadership and job satisfaction?

1.3 Research scope and approach:

First, this study is conducted in Ho Chi Minh City, the biggest city in Vietnam Second, the research includes into the analysis those respondents who have beenworking with their leaders for at least 3 months to ensure that followers have enough time

to observe and to be influenced by their leaders’ leadership behaviors

Third, the research only focuses on employees who are graduated from school or higher This choice of population and sample frame makes the study feasible(given time and resource limitation) by facilitating online survey method and helpsaddress the research questions in the simplest way possible

high-Forth, this study considers self-efficacy and optimism as the moderating variables.Self-efficacy, optimism are two of 4 components of psychological capital However, 2other components of psychological capital which are resilience and hope are notconsidered in this study

Fifth, the study is conducted in 2 main phases: pilot study (comprising of 2 phases) and main study The purpose of the pilot study is to check the contents and toexamine the measurement scales Then the main study is conducted to confirm themeasurement scales, to test the hypotheses and to confirm the research model

sub-1.4 Research structure

The structure of study includes 5 chapters as following:

Chapter 1: Introduction will provide the research background, research objectives,

as well as research scope and approach

Chapter 2: Literature review provides theoretical and empirical background behindthe hypothesized research model.

Chapter 3: Methodology details the methodologies the author use to conduct this research

Chapter 4: Analysis is conducted based on the collected data to test the hypothesesand answer the research questions

Chapter 5: The author discusses the results; provide practical implication and possible directions for future research

CHAPTER 2:

LITERATURE REVIEW, THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK AND HYPOTHESES.

In this chapter, the author review literatures by first exploring the nature ofauthentic leadership, job satisfaction, self-efficacy and optimism The author nextinvestigates the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction Then themoderating roles of optimism and self-efficacy are also discussed Finally, hypothesisand research model are developed

2.1 Authentic leadership

2.1.1 Authenticity

Erickson (1995) shows that the modern concept of authenticity has been emergedwithin the past 80 years The Concise Oxford English Dictionary, Eleventh Editiondefines authenticity as “genuine, original, not a fake” According to Harter (2002), thehistory of this word can be traced from Greek philosophy as “to thine own self be true” or

“know yourself” Harter (2002) also define authenticity as that “one acts in accord withthe true self, expressing oneself in ways that are consistent with the inner thoughts andfeelings” In more detail, Harter (2002) also explains authenticity as “the combination ofone’s personal experiences (values, thoughts, emotions and beliefs) and acting inaccordance with one true self (expressing what one really think, believe and behavingaccordingly) The recognition of oneself and one’s act in order to express oneself in theway that is consistent with his inner thoughts and feelings” Kernis (2003) defines theauthenticity as “the unobstructed operations of one’s true or core, self in one’s dailyenterprise”

People usually think that authenticity has the same meaning of sincerity However,there is a difference between them Linonel Trilling (as cited by Avolio & Gardner, 2005)defines sincerity as “congruence between avowal and actual feelings While, authenticity

is the extent to which one is true to the self” Therefore, sincerity implies a relationshipwith another person besides oneself One’s sincerity is to accurately and honestlyrepresent oneself to others The one who is true to others is so-called sincerity, while theone who is true to himself is so-called authenticity (Erickson, 1995 & Trilling, 1972).

The history of authenticity’s research focuses on the level of inauthenticity instead

of authenticity A scale to measure inauthenticity which is developed by sociologistSeeman (1960) find that an inauthentic leader is a leader who was overly compliant to thestereotypical roles and demands related to the leader role In that same period, Hill andStone (1960) recognized the power of positive thinking and described how success can beattained through a positive mental attitude Today’s academics discussing the concept ofauthentic leadership turn to positive psychology as the root of authenticity and thus focus

on the positive rather than the negative aspects of authenticity In this research, the authoruses the definition of authenticity which based on positive psychologists According toHarter et al (2002), authenticity involves both owning one’s thoughts, beliefs andemotions, and acting in accordance with one’s true self (saying what you really feel andthink and behave accordingly)

2.1.2 Dimensions of authentic leadership

Gardner et al (2005) suggests the 4 core components of authentic leadershipincluding self-awareness, the self-regulatory processes of balanced processing, authenticbehavior and relational transparency

2.1.2.1 Self-awareness

Self-awareness is one of the most important characteristics of an authentic leader

To develop authentic leadership, it is necessary to develop self-awareness (Avolio andLuthans, 2005) According to Bill George (2011), self-awareness is the ability ofknowing the emotion and its impact There is a strong relationship between self-awareness and self-reflection Through reflection, authentic leaders can understand

clearly who they are based on their core values, identity, emotions, and motives andgoals.

In the field of authenticity, Kernis (2003) also defines self-awareness as “havingawareness of, and trust in, one’s motives, feelings, desires, and self-relevant cognition.”The authentic leader who has high level of self-awareness clearly knows his strength,weaknesses and multifaceted self-nature Self-awareness is a process during whichindividuals show their unique values, identity, emotions, and motives/goals Closeranalysis on these four components of self-awareness will be shown as following:

Values:

According Erickson (1995), people who are true to themselves will be true to theircore values These values is defined as “conceptions of the desirable that guide the waysocial actors (e.g., organizational leaders, policy-makers, individual persons) selectactions, evaluate people and events, and explain their actions and evaluations” (Schwartz,1999) As trans-situational, normative standards for behavior and evaluation, valuesprovide the basis for actions in accordance with the needs of the leader’s community aswell as organizational unit Values are learned through socialization processes

Emotions

Knowing oneself does not only include insights and knowledge of personal values,

it also calls for a high level of emotional awareness Self-knowledge encompassesawareness of one’s emotions and the capability of understanding the causes and effects ofsuch emotions in cognitive processes and decision making Emotional awareness is abasic component of emotional intelligence which is recognized as a major determinant ofeffective leadership (Shamir & Eilam, 2005) Hence, authentic leaders are in touch withtheir own and other’s emotions and understand the effects of emotions on themselves andothers Their decisions will not be made based on emotions triggered by the moment

Identity

Schlenker (1985) defines identity as “a theory (schema) of an individual thatdescribes, interrelates, and explains his or her relevant features, characteristics, andexperiences” Self-identification is the process of “fixing and expressing one’s ownidentity, privately through reflection about oneself and publicly through self-disclosures,self-presentations and other activities that serve to project one’s identity to audiences”(Schlenker, 1985) Through interaction authentic leaders will incorporate the role of theleader into their interpersonal identity and achieve high person-role merger According toShamir and Eilam (2005), authentic leader will not pretend to be leaders because they arealready in a leader position Performing a leadership function is a self-expressive act for

an authentic leader Once, George Borst, CEO of Toyota Financial Services emphasis theimportance of identity self-awareness: “the big mistake that some leaders make iscreating a podium persona‟ that is not the same as who they really are People knowwhen somebody is giving them spin” (anonymous, 2009, p 20)

Motives and goals

Goals can best be described in the context of self-awareness as “contextualizedschema that direct current information processing” (Lord, Brown & Freiberg, 1999,p.180) When discussing the goals and motives of leaders, the distinction between self-view and possible selves becomes relevant Goals tied to self-views, which reflect one’spersonal view on certain attributes, lead to self-enhancement motives as people seek tosee themselves in a more favorable light Goals tied to possible selves, which reflect whoone could be, result in self-verification motives as people seek out accurate information

to gauge their progress Authentic leaders are expected to be driven by self-verificationmotives since they strive for self- (and other) development They provide genuine self-presentations in order to receive accurate feedback and facilitate the understanding oftheir selves Gardner et al (2005) also include the notion of ideal self-guides (hopes andaspirations) and ought self-guides (duties and obligations) Since authentic leaders areself-aware and true to themselves, they are expected to experience less discrepancy

between who they would like to be (ideal self) and who they think they should be (oughtself).

2.1.2.2 Balanced processing

Balanced processing is one of the components of authenticity This term isinterchangeable with term “unbiased processing” which Kernis (2003) defines as “notdenying, distorting, exaggerating, or ignoring private knowledge, internal experiences,and externally based evaluative information” This description shows that authenticleaders are able to processes self-relevant information with an objective, balanced andaccurate manner However, processing (self-relevant) information in a truly unbiased andobjective manner is not easy at all In the research in social psychology, Tice & Wallace(2003) find that people are inherently imperfect in processing (self-relevant) information

“People may see themselves more as they think others see them rather than as othersreally do see them, because people may not be accurate at knowing how others actuallysee them” (Tice & Wallace, 2003) People, especially ones with high levels of self-esteem tend to avoid or not appreciate feedback from others It is not easy for them toadmit that they have some shortcomings or negative personal attributes and emotions(Kernis, 2003) This proclivity is also reflected in many popular books, for example inthe book “Leadership and self-deception‟ (The Arbinger Institute, 2000) This bookshows an idea that people, especially leaders generally cheat themselves to think that theyare doing right things for the right reasons

However, according to Kernis (2003), information processing mechanisms ofauthentic leadership also are different from normal people Authentic leader are objective

in assessing and admitting their strengths and weaknesses thanks to low ego whenprocessing information and outcomes They are also more objective in the processing ofinformation and know both positive and negative aspects of attributes and qualities ofthemselves Ilies et al (2005) also note that the unbiased selection of informationgenerating situations should be included Instead of searching for situations which will

confirm the leader’s sense of self, an authentic leader will engage in challenging activitieswhich will stimulate personal growth and self-verification.

Authentic leaders tend to process information in such a way that distortion ofreality is minimal However, it is not easy for them to process information in a trulyunbiased manner That’s reason why Gardner et al (2005) propose the use of anotherterm ‘balanced’ instead of ‘unbiased’ to describe process in which authentic leaders makemore accurate and ‘balanced’ self-assessments as well as social comparisons, to havemore accurate perceptions of themselves and others Authentic leaders are ‘balanced’ inthe way they welcome for the expression of feedback, both confirming and contradictingtheir awareness, from others They also balance their own awareness and the information,

so that they do not ignore or selectively interpret but actively and open-mindedly processthe information

2.1.2.3 Authentic behavior

Behavior in of authenticity concept refers to “whether people act in accord withtheir true self” (Kernis, 2003) Authentic behavior refers to “acting in accord with one’svalues, preferences, and needs as opposed to acting merely to please others or to attainrewards or avoid punishment through acting ‘falsely’” (Kernis, 2003) Authentic leaders

do not under societal pressure that they must behave in agreement with societal or theirvalues Kernis (2003) points out: “authenticity is not reflected in a compulsion to beone’s true self, but rather in the free and natural expression of core feelings, motives andinclinations” Sometimes, if values of authentic leaders are not in line with societal ororganizational values, there will be an internal conflict In this case, authentic leaders willpossess authentic feeling and resist external pressure to compromise with their internalvalues

2.1.2.4 Relational transparency

The last one and important component of authentic leaders is relationaltransparency Kernis (2003) define transparency as “relational in nature, inasmuch as it

involves valuing and achieving openness and truthfulness in one’s close relationship”.Authentic leaders also help their followers discover both positive and negative aspects ofthemself, rather than hide them It involves “an active process of self-disclosure and thedevelopment of mutual intimacy and trust so that intimates will see one’s true self-aspects, both good and bad” (Kernis, 2002) In openly sharing information, authenticleaders will be aware of and openly express their emotions At the same time, theyregulate their behavior to prevent the improper display or potentially harming emotions(Gardner et al., 2005) Even though being a distinct component of authentic leadership,relational transparency is also under influence of other components such as self-awareness, balanced processing and authentic behaviour (Ilies et al., 2005) As theauthentic leader gets to know oneself, he will become committed to an open relationshipbuilt on trust and willingness to share thoughts and feelings when appropriate.

2.2 Job satisfaction.

2.2.1 Definition

Job satisfaction is one of the most widely discussed and studied construct inindustrial-organizational psychology, social psychology, organizational behavior,personnel and human resource management, and organizational management (Cranny,Smith, & Stone, 1992) Hence, there are many definition of job satisfaction becausedifferent authors have different approaches towards defining job satisfaction

Hoppock’s (1935) defined job satisfaction as “any combination of psychological,physiological, and environmental circumstances that causes a person truthfully to say, ‘I

am satisfied with my job’” This approach on job satisfaction shows that there are manyexternal and internal factors which influence the way how the employee feels According

to Ivancevich and Donnelly (1968), job satisfaction was “the favorable viewpoint of theworker toward the work role he presently occupies” Smith, Kendall, and Hulin (1969)also define job satisfaction was “feelings or affective responses to facets of the situation”

Statt (2004) also defines job satisfaction as the extent to which a worker is content withthe rewards he or she gets from his or her job, particularly in terms of intrinsicmotivation This definition of job satisfactions refers to the attitude and feelings thatemployees have in their work Positive and favorable attitudes towards the job indicatejob satisfaction; vice versa, negative and unfavorable attitudes towards the job indicatejob dissatisfaction (Armstrong, 2006).

Even though there were many different definitions of job satisfaction, jobsatisfaction generally was considered to be an employee’s attitude about his or her jobbased on factors in the working environment In other words, job satisfaction was a result

of employee’s perception of how well his or her job provides those things that wereconsidered important to him or her

2.2.2 Role of job satisfaction

Job satisfaction influences on various aspects of organizational life such asorganizational commitment, loyalty and absenteeism

While there is still considerable debate whether satisfaction leads to performance

or performance leads to satisfaction (Luthans, 1998), there is a strong linkage betweenjob satisfaction and organizational commitment which has been found for recent years(Carrell, Jennings, and Heavrin, 1997)

Also, employees who are satisfied with their jobs tend to be less absent thanemployees who are dissatisfied Employee absenteeism may cause serious additionalcosts for companies Therefore, managers must find the ways to decrease and reduce it asminimal as possible One of the best ways to reduce and decrease employee’sabsenteeism would be through an increase in the level of job satisfaction of employees.The reason behind this approach is that the higher the degree of job satisfaction is, thelower employee absenteeism should be

Employee loyalty is also one of the most significant factors that human resourcemanagers in particular must focus Generally, three types of employee loyalty are

considered: affective loyalty, normative loyalty and continuity loyalty Affective loyalty

is a kind of loyalty that an employee feels an emotional linkage to the company,normative loyalty is a sort of loyalty that appears in cases when the employee feels like

he owns something to the company; and continuity loyalty comes as a result of the factthat the employee cannot find another job somewhere else Research conducted byVanderberg and Lance (1992) on 100 employees in the information services for fivemonths showed a strong relations between job satisfaction and employee loyalty in theway that the high degree of job satisfaction lead to the high level of employee loyalty

2.2.3 Determinants of job satisfaction

Researchers have found that a number of variables are related positively to jobsatisfaction A review of the literature indicates that most studies have focused onpersonal variables and work-related factors

Personal variables such as age, gender, and education are important factor thatdetermine job satisfaction According to Waskiewicz (1999), the relationship betweenage and job satisfaction can be described in a U-shaped function where job satisfactionwith younger employees is initially high and then drops for several years, and finallyraises again with employees age Older employees seem to have higher level of jobsatisfaction than younger employees (Wangphanich, 1984) However, according to Colland Rice (1990), age is not really related to job satisfaction While research on therelationship between gender and job satisfaction also was unclear, Hollen and Gemmell(1976) compared job satisfaction levels of community-college male and femaleprofessors and reported that males express higher levels of overall job satisfaction thanfemales (in Wangphanich, 1984) However, in the study of job satisfaction on facultymembers at NIDA, Sagol Jariyavidyanont (1978) found that there were no significantdifferences in job satisfaction among gender, age, education, and work experiences.Education is considered as a variable that influence job satisfaction in negative orpositive way For example, according to Carrel and Elbert (1974), there was a negative

relationship between education and job satisfaction They concluded that employees withhigh level of education are usually dissatisfied in doing the routine tasks required in mostjobs On the contrary, Quinn and Baldi de Mandilovitch (1980) concluded that there was

a positive relationship between educational level and overall job satisfaction

Work-related factors were also considered as the determinant of job satisfaction.The work plays a major role in determining how employees are satisfied with their jobs.Employees tend to prefer challenging jobs that give them chances to show and apply theirabilities and skills and embody a diversity of tasks, freedom, and performance feedback(Arnold and Feldman, 1986) According to Locke (1976), interesting and challengingwork may lead to the higher level of job satisfaction Having friendly and cooperativecoworkers is also a modest source of job satisfaction Ducharme and Martin (2000)’sfindings revealed that affective coworker support significantly enhance employee jobsatisfaction (in DeMato, 2001)

Salary could be one of the important determinants of job satisfaction because ithelps fulfill so many of employee needs including their basic needs and upper-levelneeds Employees often consider salary as a reflection of how management evaluatestheir contribution to the organization (Luthans, 2001) Also, fringe benefits contribute tojob satisfaction, but would not be as important as salary Derlin and Schneider (1994)stated that researchers in some studies have concluded that salary and fringe benefits playimportant roles in the study of job satisfaction Opportunity to be developed seems tohave a varying effect on job satisfaction This is because opportunity to be developedtakes a number of forms and has a variety of accompanying rewards (Luthans, 2001) Apositive environment and opportunities to grow intellectually and broaden their skill basehas become more important than traditional promotion opportunities Employees whohave opportunities to learn to widen their knowledge and improve their skills are moresatisfied with their jobs (Waskiewicz, 1999; Luthans, 2001) Styles and quality ofsupervision also play an important role on job satisfaction A number of research

indicated that employees’ attitude was directly linked to the quality of supervisionprovided to them (i.e DeMato, 2001) In terms of organizational communication,Brunetto (2002) found that there was a positive relationship between the satisfaction withorganizational communication and employee commitment.

2.3 The influence of authentic leadership on job satisfaction

According to Gardner et al (2005), the positive relationship between authenticleadership and job satisfaction has been mentioned in academic literature review ofleadership However, until beginning of 2008, with the development of the AuthenticLeadership Questionnaire by Walumbwa, Avolio et al (2008), these statements wereempirically tested to confirm that authentic leaders are positively related to follower’s jobsatisfaction Avolio (1999) also believes that during working with authentic leaders,followers’ trust will develop over time And this level of trust, job satisfaction offollowers’ will increase (Dirks and Ferrin, 2002) Furthermore, through social contagionprocesses, the positive moods of authentic leader influence the followers’ states, resulting

in increased follower job satisfaction Based on theory, the following hypothesis isproposed as following:

Hypothesis 1: Authentic leadership is positively related to follower’ job satisfaction.

2.4 Self-efficacy

Self-efficacy has originated in Bandura’s social cognitive theory emphasizing theevolvement and exercise of human agency that people can exercise some influence overwhat they do (Bandura, 2006) Bandura (1977) defines self-efficacy as one's belief inone's ability to succeed in specific situations One's sense of self-efficacy can play amajor role in how people approach goals, tasks, and challenges According to Bandura(2006), people are self-organizing, proactive, self-regulating, and self-reflecting Fromthis perspective, self-efficacy affects one's goals and behaviors and is influenced by one'sactions and conditions in the environment (Schunk & Meece, 2006) Efficacy may

determine how environmental opportunities and impediments are perceived (Bandura,2006) and affect choice of activities, how much effort is used on an activity, and howlong people will persist when facing obstacles (Pajares, 1997) Stajkovic and Luthans(1998) also provide another definition of self-efficacy used in this context of positiveorganizational behavior They define self-efficacy in the workplace as “one’s conviction(or confidence) about his or her abilities to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources,and courses of action needed to successfully execute a specific task within a givencontext” According to Bandura (1982), self-efficacy is a situation-dependent variablewhich evolves with continued experience in the situation, and is thereby changeable overtime.

There are some reports which show the mediating roles of self-efficacy betweenauthentic leadership and job satisfaction

Authentic leaders “don’t fake their leadership; they don’t lead for status, honor, orother personal rewards; they are not copied but are original and they are leaders whoseactions are based on values and convictions” (Shamir and Eilam, 2005) They also focus

on follower’s state of confidence and help follower to recognize their capacities As aresult, the level of follower’s self-efficacy will be improved if they work with authenticleaders Moreover, authentic leader may improve extent of self-efficacy of followersthanks to his modeling behaviour of verbal expression of confidence towards hisemployees This vicarious learning and verbal persuasion are both identified by Bandura

as key sources of self-efficacy and are naturally to authentic leader

Self-efficacy has been found to be the predictor of job satisfaction in literature(Judge, Locke, Durham & Kluger, 1998; Judge & Bono, 2001) Self-efficacy, or one’sestimate of one’s fundamental ability to cope, perform, and be successful, will contribute

to positive self-evaluations and thus efficacious people tend to deal effectively withdifficulties when confronting challenges and subsequently derive satisfaction from thejob (Judge and Bono, 2001) Additionally, self-efficacy, together with hope, optimism

and resilience is four components of psychological capacities (Luthans, Avolio et al., 2007).Research results obtained in the United States and China indicate that employee’spsychological capital is positively related to job satisfaction of followers (Luthans, Avey,Clapp-Smith & Li, 2008; Luthans, Avolio et al., 2007; Luthans, Norman, Avolio & Avey,2008) Moreover, on the research in educational section, recent findings have shown thatself-efficacy beliefs have a crucial role in affecting and sustaining their job satisfaction(Caprara, Barbaranelli, Borgogni, Petitta et al., 2003; Caprara, Barbaranelli, Borgogni, &Steca, 2003) People who have high level of self-efficacy tend to work harder to achieve theirsetting goal, and will have higher level of job satisfaction (WK Lau, 2012).

Even though mediating roles of self-efficacy between authentic leadership and jobsatisfaction is recorded in some studies, according to the best of the author’s knowledge,

no studies to date have successfully analyzed the moderating roles on the relationshipbetween authentic leadership and job satisfaction That is why the author proposes thebelow hypothesis:

Hypothesis 2: Self-efficacy moderates the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction: the relationship is stronger with higher level of self- efficacy.

2.5 Optimism

In the simplest sense, Chang (2001) defines optimism as an expectation that goodthings will happen It shapes and reflects the life course as an emotionally-charged,individual orientation towards the future and is a substantial component of agency (Hitlinand Elder 2007) Optimistic people usually attribute success to internal, stable and globalcauses, for example their own abilities They will attribute failures to external causes (it isnot their fault), unstable (only temporary) and specific (it is situation-specific) Optimisticpeople will also expect more success in the future and experience more positiveemotional states (Gardner & Schermerhorn, 2004)

There are also some reports which show the mediating roles of optimism betweenauthentic leadership and job satisfaction The authentic leader has a deep sense of selfand is self-confident and therefore is highly optimistic (Gardner et al., 2005) According

to Youssef & Luthans (2007), optimism is positively associated with job satisfaction.Research also suggests that the optimistic leader could make his followers optimistic(Wunderley, Reddy & Dember, 1998) The optimistic employee is easily to be motivated,more satisfied, and shows high levels of aspiration However, there is also a dangerembedded in optimism People who are too optimistic may not take responsibility forfailure and do not have a sense of reality They strive for unattainable goals or persistwith unproductive strategies Therefore, the need for realistic optimism is stressed inliterature (Peterson, 2000) This realistic optimism of managers and employees hasproven to result in better performance, satisfaction (Gardner & Schermerhorn, 2004)

Even though mediating roles of optimism between authentic leadership and jobsatisfaction is reported in some studies, according to the best of the author’s knowledge,

no empirical evidence of a moderating role of optimism on the relationship betweenauthentic leadership and job satisfaction has been successfully analyzed Therefore, theauthor proposes the below hypothesis:

Hypothesis 3: optimism moderates the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction: the relationship is stronger with lower level of optimism.

2.6 Summary

The definition, history and components of the authentic leadership construct andjob satisfaction as well as optimism and self-efficacy were discussed in this chapter Theconceptual argument and previous researches state that relationships exist among thesevariables However, as there is no available research of moderating roles optimism andself-efficacy on relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction (according

to knowledge of the author), the author suggest the moderating roles of moderating roles

optimism and self-efficacy in this research All hypotheses are summarized and depicted

H3

Optimism

CHAPTER 3:

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

The purpose of this chapter is to address the methods used in this study Items thatwill be addressed include research design, questionnaire development, and translation ofthe questionnaire, pilot study, target population, sample frame, sample size, sampleselection, sample characteristics, data collection and methods of data analysis

of pilot study Pilot study phase 2 was conducted using online survey method with largergroup of target participants (n = 50) The purpose was to examine the internal consistency

of the measurement scales, response rate, and quality of response

After the pilot study, the main study was conducted using online survey method(web-based, Website: https:\\docs.google.com) The purposes were to confirm themeasurement scales, to test the hypotheses and to confirm the research model With greatadvantages of online survey such as faster, cheaper, more accurate, quick to analyze, easy

to use for participants, more honest and more flexible, the author choose online surveyfor this paper

The process of this research is shown in figure 3-1:

Figure 3-1: The Research Process

Define research problem; identify research objectives and scope

Review literature; Adapt conceptual framework

Pilot Study 1: Conduct qualitative study (in-depth

interviews) to check the content and meaning of words

Pilot Study 2: Examine the internal consistency questionnaire

Main survey: Conduct data collection

Analyze data: Validate scales using Cronbach alpha, Confirmatory Factor

Analysis, Regression and t test

Give conclusion, recommendations and implications

3.2 Questionnaire development:

The survey contained 4 sections, including authentic leadership questions, efficacy questions, optimism questions and job satisfaction questions According toBabbie’s (1998) recommendations, short instructions were given at the beginning of eachsection All items were assessed on Likert-type scales on which 1 represents “never” (ordisagreed), and 7 represents “always” (strongly agreed)

self-3.2.1 Authentic leadership.

Authentic leadership was measured by the recently developed 16-item Authentic Leadership Questionnaire (ALQ) (Avolio, Gardner & Walumbwa, 2007) The four

theoretically related substantive factors of authentic leadership were confirmed byWalumbwa, Avolio et al (2008) These four factors include self-awareness (4 items),balanced processing (3 items), authentic behaviour (4 items) and relational transparency(5 items) and form a core higher order authentic leadership constructs Sample itemsinclude the following: the manager “My leader shows he or she understands how specificactions impact others ” (self-awareness); “My leader listens carefully to different points

of view before coming to conclusions” (balanced processing); “My leader makes difficultdecisions based on high standards of ethical conduct” (authentic behaviour); and “Myleader tells you the hard truth” (relational transparency)

3.2.2 Job satisfaction

Job satisfaction was measured using 5 items taken from the Brayfield Rothe scale(Brayfield & Rothe, 1951) This short form of the Brayfield Rothe scale is reliable andhas been used in many researches (Bono & Judge, 2003; Walumbwa, Avolio et al.,2008) The response anchors ranged from 1 (Strongly agree) to 7 (Strongly disagree) Thefive items are: “Most days I am enthusiastic about my work,” “I feel fairly satisfied with

my present job,” “I find real enjoyment in my work,” “Each day at work seems like itwill never end,” and “I consider my job rather unpleasant.” The last two items arereverse-scored

3.2.3 Optimism and Self-Efficacy

Optimism and Self-Efficacy were measured by 12 items extracted fromPsychological Capital Questionnaire including 24-item Psychological Capital by Luthans,Youssef and Avey (2007) 6 items of Self-Efficacy included “I feel confident analyzing along-term problem to find a solution”, “I feel confident in representing my work area inmeetings with management”, “I feel confident contributing to discussions about thecompany's strategy”, “I feel confident helping to set targets/goals in my work area”, “Ifeel confident contacting people outside the company (e.g., suppliers, customers) todiscuss problems”, and “I feel confident presenting information to a group of colleagues.”

6 items of Optimism included “When things are uncertain for me at work I usually expectthe best”, “If something can go wrong for me work-wise it will (Reverse)”, “I alwayslook on the bright side of things regarding my job”, “I’m optimistic about what willhappen to me in the future as it pertains to work”, “In this job, things never work out theway I want them to (Reverse)”, and “I approach this job as if ‘every cloud has a silverlining”’.

3.3 Translation of the questionnaire

Surveys were translated and back-translated into Vietnamese in line with crosscultural translation procedures (Harkness & Schoua-Glusberg, 1998) Committeeapproaches were used for translation Committee or parallel translation involved severaltranslators who made independent translations of the same questionnaire asrecommendation from Brislin (1980) At a reconciliation (consensus, revision) meeting,translators compared the translations, reconciled discrepancies and agreed on a finalversion which taped the best of the independent translations or, alternatively, appeared inthe course of discussion In this study, author used the committee of two translators

According to Harkness & Schoua-Glusberg (1998), the term back translationreferred to the translation of a translation back into the source language The purpose ofback translation was to compare, contrast the back translation with the source text with aview to assessing the quality of a translation For survey translation, back translation isseen as offering a solution to the fact that researchers often need information about thequality of translations without being able to read and evaluate these themselves

The basic steps involved were as follows:

1 A source text in one language (Source Language Text One, SLT1) wastranslated into another language (Target Language Text, TLT) using committee approach

unfamiliar with the SLT1 and uninformed that there was an SLT1 This secondtranslation, the back translation, was SLT2

3 SLT1 was compared to SLT2.

were drawn about the equivalence of TLT to SLT1

In this study, SLT1 and SLT2 were found identical or close in meaning acrosstranslated items Therefore the author decided to us the original questionnaire for the pilotstudy

3.4 The pilot study

A pilot study has been performed to minimize miss-interpretation of the questions

in the questionnaire This process was made accordingly based on the recommendationsand comments received from the five participants of the pilot study As a result, questionswere revised or removed and the format changed

3.4.1 Pilot study phase 1

The questionnaire was pre-tested using 5 respondents who were working at HSBCVietnam Bank (n = 1), VietJet Air (n = 1), and VAECO (Vietnam Airlines EngineeringCompany) (n=2) and Vietcom Real (n=1)

The qualitative comments received were mostly regarding wording of the itemsand meaning of items All modifications were for wording to make the translation clearerand closer to Vietnamese Due to incomprehensive meaning and unsuitable toVietnamese environment, some questions were removed In detail, authentic leaders wererepresented by 5 items (self-awareness was represented by “My leader shows he or sheunderstands how specific actions impact others”, balanced processing was represented by

“listens carefully to different points of view before coming to conclusions”, authenticbehavior was represented by “makes decisions based on his or her core values” and “asksyou to take positions that support your core values”, and relational transparency wasrepresented by “tells you the hard truth” Job satisfaction was represented by 5 items asmentioned in 3.2.2, self-efficacy was represented by 2 items including “I feel confident

helping to set targets/goals in my work area” and “I feel confident presenting information

to a group of colleagues”, and optimism was represented by 3 items including “Ifsomething can go wrong for me work-wise it will (Reverse)”, “I’m optimistic about whatwill happen to me in the future as it pertains to work”, and “I approach this job as if

‘every cloud has a silver lining’” Some words also change to make respondents easy tounderstand For example, the author realized that the word “Giá trị” which comes fromword “Value” is not familiar with the respondents Therefore, the author replaced “Giátrị” with “Nguyên tắc sống” Since some respondents worked with many leaders, they didnot know which leaders they should assess in the study Therefore, the author also notedthat respondents should choose leader who influence them much The final version of thequestionnaires including English and Vietnamese version were posted onhttps://docs.google.com and is available in Appendix 1

3.4.2 Pilot study phase 2

In pilot study phase 2, the author asked help from the 5 respondents in pilot studyphase 1 to distribute the survey link to their friends and colleagues There were 50 fully-completed questionnaires According to Nunnally (1978), a Cronbach Alpha of biggerthan 70 suggested acceptable level of internal consistency In this pilot study 2, theCronbach Alphas were all above 70 for all variables In detail, Cronbach Alpha ofAuthentic Leader construct was 89; Cronbach Alpha of Self-Efficacy construct was 911;and Cronbach Alpha of Optimism construct was 98 With the good result in the pilotstudy, the author was confident in doing the next steps

3.5 Target population

According to Saunders et al (2003), population in a study is defined as a full set ofcases from which researcher draws a sample On the other hand, Malhotra (1996) definedpopulation as a set of elements possessing the required information sought by the

researcher Following their definition, the target population of this research study wasemployees working for firms based in Ho Chi Minh City.

3.6 Sample size

According to Malhotra & Birks (2000), sample size was defined as a number ofcases or elements included in a given research study They defined an element as anobject possessing the data sought in a study and about which inferences are made Most

of research studies use samples There are some reasons to get samples such as limitedcost and time (Saunders et al., 2003) Bouma & Atkinson (1995) suggested that samplesize is dependent on the accuracy of desired generalization The more accuracy regardingpopulation parameters required needed larger sample size

Hair et al (2006) said that minimum sample number was 50 and the ratio ofobservation to items should be 5/1.Therefore, ideal samples in this research comprise 75employees The author targeted to have at least 150 responses Samples are divided asfollowings:

3.7 Selecting the sample and collecting data

According to Saunders et al (2000), there were 2 kinds of sampling: probabilityand non-probability

Probability sampling in which samples are randomly selected is the mostcommonly linked to survey–based research where researcher needs to conclude about apopulation to answer the research questions or to meet research objectives (Saunders et

al., 2000) If done correctly, probability sampling ensures that the sample can berepresentative for population (Hair et al., 2003).

According to Saunders et al.(2000), non-probability sampling in which theselection of elements for the sample is not necessarily made to be statisticallyrepresentative of the population, provides a range of alternative technique based onresearcher subjective judgment The researcher uses the subjective methods such aspersonal experience, convenience, expert judgment and so on to select the elements in thesample Therefore, the probability of elements of the population chosen is not known(Samuel et al., 2003)

In non-probability sampling methods, the most popular method is: conveniencesampling which involves selecting sample members who can provide requiredinformation and who are more available to participate in the study (Samuel et al., 2003).Convenience sample enables the researcher to complete a large number of interviewswith low cost and quickness However, the drawback of this method is bias in selectionbecause of difference of target population (Hair et al., 2003)

Based on above theory, the convenience non-probability sampling method waschosen in this study

3.8 Sample characteristics

Participants fulfilling the following criteria were selected and included in theanalysis:

1 The participants had at least high school degree

organization for at least 3 months to ensure that they had enough time to observe and to

be influenced by their leaders’ behaviors

3.9 Methods of data analysis

3.9.1 Data screening

Questionnaires would be reviewed, and the wrong answers would be rejected aftercollecting Then, data screening will be carried out by using SPSS for window version16

As the initial step, the author filtered qualified respondents, who met thepredefined criteria (having at least high school degree, having full time job, and havingbeen working with their leader for at least 3 months) Next the author screens the data.Web-based surveys require the least amount of data cleaning

The author also reviewed the reverse-scored questions in section of job satisfaction

to double check if they were logically answered Due to the fact that the author put

“required” option for all questions, the respondent could not submit the survey withincomplete answer, meaning there was no possible missing-answer response

3.9.2 Reliability

Reliability of scales is verified by using Cronbach Alpha factor This method helps

to remove unsatisfied variable in process of this research and validating the reliability ofthe scale The variables whose item-total correlation is less than 0.3 should be removed(Pallant, 2007) Peterson (1994) and Slater (1995) suggest that 0.6 is the ‘criterion-in-use’ Generally, Cronbach Alpha factor which is between 0.8 and 1 shows that the scale

is very good

3.9.3 Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA)

The quality of the measurements in terms of the data obtained (i.e measurementmodels) could be checked via confirmatory factor analysis The purpose of confirmatoryfactor analysis (CFA) is to test the model fit or whether the data fit the hypothesizedmeasurement model In this study, confirmatory factor analysis was used to confirm the

factor structure of each of the variables and to provide a confirmatory test of themeasurement theory (authentic leadership, optimism, self-efficacy and job satisfaction).

To gauge the model fit, chi-square (χ²) values are reported as the index of absolute) values are reported as the index of absolutefit (Kline, 2011) It indicates the difference between observed and expected covariancematrices Values closer to zero indicate a better fit; smaller difference between expectedand observed covariance matrices (Gatignon, 2010) In addition, the author also reportthe comparative fix index (CFI), goodness-of-fit index (GFI), and the root mean squareerror of approximation (RMSEA) to gauge model fit These indexes indicate the extent towhich a research model provides an improved overall fit relative to a null model orindependence model in which the correlations among observed variables are assumed to

be zero The CFI and GFI have been considered the best approximations of thepopulation value for a single model The RMSEA is a measure of the averagestandardized residual per degree of freedom Reported fit indices and their desired rangeare summarized in table 3-2

Table 3-1: Assessing Fit Indices

Goodness-of-fit indices abbreviation Desired range of values

for a good fit

Minimum Fit Function Chi-Square χ²) values are reported as the index of absolute p>.05

Chi-Square/Degrees of Freedom ratio χ²) values are reported as the index of absolute/df 1 to 3

≤.08

Source: Hair et al., 2006; Tabachnick & Fidell, 2007; Kline, 2011; Hu & Bentler, 1999; Carmines & McIver 1981

3.9.4 Correlation analysis

Correlation analysis also plays a vital role in data analysis Correlation analysiswas used to determine the relationship between two variables According toDiamantopoulos & Schlegelmilch (1997), correlation analysis is not only used todiscover whether or not there is a relationship exists between two variables, but alsoreveals the direction and magnitude of the relationship

Correlations estimate the extent to which changes in one variable are linked tochanges in the other variables Those are indicated by the correlation coefficient (r)ranging from -1.00 to +1.00 According to Welman & Kruger (1999), a correlation of

The magnitude of the relationship shows the significance level of the relationshipbetween two variables The significance level is used to indicate the maximum risk inrejecting a true null hypothesis Therefore, a significance level should always beassociated with the probability of making a mistake Thus when one selects the 5 percentsignificance level (p#0.05) to conduct a hypothesis test, the null hypothesis is rejectedwhen in fact it is true — 5 times out of 100 Therefore, if the result of a test is less than orequal to the specified significance level, the test result is significant.

3.9.5 Multiple regressions

Multiple regression analysis, a form of general linear modelling, is a multivariatestatistical technique that is used in this study to examine the relationship between a singledependent variable (job satisfaction) and independent variables (authentic leadership).Moreover, hierarchical regression analysis is used to examine the moderating role of self-efficacy and optimism on job satisfaction

Baron & Kenny (1986) define moderator as a variable that affects the directionand strength of the relationship between an independent variable and a dependentvariable The most common procedure to test two-way interaction statistically is toregress the dependent variable (Y) on the independent variable (X) and the moderatingvariable (M), then in the next step, add the interaction X*M into the equation In thisstudy, the moderating relationship was tested using hierarchical regression procedures

Before conducting regression, each predictor was centred by its mean to maximizeinterpretability and to minimize problems of multicollinearity (Aiken & West, 1991).Then, enter the centered independent variable (Xmean) and the moderator variable(Mmean) in the first regression model In the second model, enter the interaction (Xmean

x Mmean) into the equation If the adjusted R2 in the second model is significantly higherthan the adjusted R2 in the first model and the coefficient for the interaction issignificant, there is evidence that the moderator variable moderates the relationshipbetween the independent variable and the dependent variable

3.9.6 Independent Samples T-test

The t-test assesses whether the means of two groups are statistically different fromeach other This analysis is appropriate whenever you want to compare the means of twogroups In this study, the author used T test to verify whether difference of level of jobsatisfaction between male and female existed

3.9.7 Summary

In this chapter, overview of the methodology used for this study was provided.This chapter emphasized the confirmatory factor analysis to verify interpretable andunderstandable factor structures associated with each of the measured constructs Othertechniques used for data analysis including sampling, reliability analysis, correlationanalysis and regression analysis were also discussed Content of adjusted questionnairesand measurement scales of authentic leadership, job satisfaction, self-efficacy andoptimism were introduced Based on the methodology in this chapter, the authorproceeded to analyse the data received from survey in the next chapter