Authenticity at work: its shapes, triggers, and consequences

Abstract

The concept of authenticity has been increasingly on the scholarly radar. While conceptualized in numerous ways, authenticity has been suggested to include some form of alignment of one’s internal sense of self (e.g., beliefs, values, motivations) and the external expression of it. State or felt authenticity has been defined as the sense of being one’s real self. Much evidence highlights the positive consequences of authenticity, both in general and at work. Yet, many questions remain. This special section consists of four articles that theorize and provide novel empirical evidence, including experiments and field studies, on antecedents and consequences of authenticity in the work context. The articles focus on behavioral, felt, and perceived authenticity, document intrapersonal and situational factors triggering authenticity. Moreover, the articles lay the foundation for novel research directions, integrating concepts such as identity integration, humility, and power into the authenticity at work discourse. Over the past decades, the concept of authenticity has been attracting the attention of both psychologists and the popular press (Cha et al., 2019). Even some recent high-level political successes and failures were in part attributed to the actors’ presumable authenticity or lack thereof (e.g., Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton; Hobbs, 2015, Miller, 2015). The increased interest in authenticity is not surprising given the rise of positive psychology, which grants authenticity a central position (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). Authenticity has been defined in numerous ways, but most definitions assume “the unobstructed operation of one’s true- or core-self in one’s daily enterprise” (Kernis & Goldman, 2006, p. 294), or acting in accord with one’s core values, beliefs, self-representations, and motivations (Caza et al., 2018, Cha et al., 2019, Deci and Ryan, 2000, Erickson, 1995, Lehman et al., 2019, Rogers, 1964). Echoing the alignment between the internal sense of self and the external expression of it, the feeling of authenticity has been defined as “the sense …that one is being their real self” (Sedikides, Slabu, Lenton, & Thomaes, 2017, p. 521). Authenticity has been shown to benefits facets of well-being such as self-esteem, affect, life satisfaction, meaning of life, and basic needs of relatedness, competence, and autonomy (Harter, 2002, Sheldon and Elliot, 1999, Thomaes et al., 2017, Wood et al., 2008). At work, authenticity has been shown to increase motivation, engagement, and job satisfaction (Cable et al., 2013, Martinez et al., 2017, van den Bosch and Taris, 2014). At the same time, many questions remain unanswered. For instance, what triggers authenticity, especially in the organizational context? In which specific work contexts behaving authentically is likely to be an asset? What makes some people to be perceived as authentic, and does perceived authenticity matter?

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ORCID for Constantine Sedikides: orcid.org/0000-0003-4036-889X

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