Authentic leadership and psychological capital in job demands-resources model among Pakistani university teachers

ABSTRACT

The current research intends to expand the job demands-resources model (JD-R model) by exploring the role of authentic leadership and psychological capital (PsyCap) in stress and motivational processes of JD-R model in a purposive sample of N = 500 university teachers from Pakistan. The survey instruments of the present study were self-reported questionnaires in English language and the research model was tested through structured equation modeling. Results revealed that authentic leadership had direct effects on work engagement, PsyCap, quantitative overload, and job-related affective well-being. PsyCap demonstrated significant direct effects on all outcome measures in the expected directions. Burnout negatively influenced both performance and well-being, whereas engagement predicted well-being positively. Quantitative overload was positively related to both engagement and burnout. Authentic leadership demonstrated indirect effects on all outcomes through PsyCap. Quantitative overload also mediated the relationships of authentic leadership with engagement and burnout. Burnout mediated PsyCap’s links with well-being and performance, whereas engagement mediated between PsyCap and well-being only. Finally, PsyCap buffered the negative effect of overload on performance and well-being. Overall, these results provided strong empirical support for the JD-R model and suggested that authentic leadership and PsyCap can be integrated into the JD-R model as powerful resources.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.