Authentic Leadership as an Element of Employer Value Proposition and a Feature of Employer of Choice: Generations (Z)Alpha Expectations
49 Pages Posted: 19 Jun 2024
Abstract
The main goal of the research presented in this article is to identify the expectations of Generation (Z)Alpha related to authentic leadership and to check whether meeting these expectations by the organisation guarantees it to be perceived as an employer of choice. In our empirical research conducted among 446 Polish representatives of Generation (Z)Alpha, we use the CAWI (Computer-Assisted Web Interview) technique. We validate the Polish version of the Authentic Leadership Integrated Questionnaire (AL-IQ). We build and evaluate a measurement model in which the construct of authentic leadership is the independent variable, psychological safety, employment flexibility, and creativity at work are mediators, and the employer of choice is the dependent variable. We test hypotheses based on the structural model. We conclude that the employer / employment value proposition for the Polish Generation (Z)Alpha should include authentic leadership, but for young labour market participants, psychological safety (which is a complete moderator between the expectation of authentic leadership and the tendency to evaluate the organisation as an employer of choice), flexibility, and creativity at work are also important. We also argue that employers should constantly diagnose young people's expectations related to work and adapt them in the employment value proposition.
Keywords: authentic leadership, employer value proposition, employer of choice, Generation ZAlpha, Generation Alpha
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