The Effect of the Accountability Variables of Responsibility, Openness, and Answerability on Authentic Leadership

Abstract

One salient aspect of authentic leadership is the possibility that it can be developed (Walumbwa, Avolio, Gardner, Wernsing, & Peterson, 2008 Walumbwa, F. O., Avolio, B. J., Gardner, W. L., Wernsing, T. S., & Peterson, S. J. (2008). Authentic leadership: Development and validation of a theory-based measure. Journal of Management, 34(1), 89–126. doi:10.1177/0149206307308913[Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). However, the relative paucity of research on authentic leadership as a dependent variable needs to be addressed. The purpose of this cross-sectional quantitative study is to examine the three factors of accountability: (a) responsibility, (b) openness, and (c) answerability (Wood & Winston, 2007 Wood, J. A., & Winston, B. E. (2007). Development of three scales to measure leader accountability. Leadership & Organization Development Journal, 28(2), 167–185. doi:10.1108/01437730710726859[Crossref] , [Google Scholar]) as antecedents to authentic leadership. Using survey results from a sample of full-time employees at six faith-based institutions of higher education in the United States, a predictive relationship was investigated through hierarchical regression analysis. The results indicated that the variables of responsibility, openness, and answerability predict the perception of authentic leadership.