Authentic leadership and positive organizational behavior: A meso, multi-level perspective

Authentic leadership (AL) and positive organizational behavior (POB) are two important emerging approaches in the organizational sciences. To date, published work on AL and POB has been primarily leader-focused and based on individual differences. In this article, after verifying this individual-level focus via content coding of AL articles, AL and POB are explicated and integrated using a meso, multi-level perspective. Essentially, viewed in terms of multiple levels of analysis, AL promotes various multi-level “primary” criteria and outcomes of POB that, in turn, enhances various multi-level “secondary” criteria and outcomes of performance. Direct effects of AL on performance at multiple levels of analysis also are plausible. Implications for future meso perspectives on leadership theory and research in general and on AL and POB in particular are discussed.