To be true or not to be true: authentic leadership and its effect on travel agents

ABSTRACT

This study examines authentic leadership and its impact on employees in the travel industry. Based on previous studies, the study proposes and tests a framework, in which four dimensions of authentic leadership influence two types of trust (supervisor trust and organizational trust), which in turn affect employee burnout. The data were collected by using a survey on travel agents in South Korea. The study finds that not all four dimensions of authentic leadership influence trust and that supervisor trust affects organizational trust. Trust is found to mediate the relationship between authentic leadership and employee burnout. The study offers theoretical implications and practical suggestions.

KEYWORDS:

• Authentic leadership
• travel industry
• trust
• employee burnout
• service employee

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.