Moderation-mediation of the relationship between authentic leadership, trust and organisational citizenship behaviour

The study examines the impact of leader followers’ gender on the relationship between Authentic Leadership (AL), employees’ Trust in Leaders (TL) and Organisational Citizenship Behaviour (OCB) in the Information Technology (IT) industry. Understanding the role of gender in AL, TL and OBC is crucial for enhancing employees’ OCB and designing effective leadership development training programs within organisations. This study employs a moderation -mediation model where employees’ gender serving as a moderator and employees’ trust in leaders as a mediator in the AL and OCB relationship. The study has adopted a quantitative, non-experimental (descriptive) research approach. The sample consists of 304 (62% male and 38% female) employees with two or more years of working experience in the information technology industry. The data is collected through a cross-sectional survey method using a validated questionnaire comprising 52 items. Structural equation modelling has been conducted using AMOS version 21 software. The Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) has been used to assess the factor structure of the model. The findings show that gender significantly moderates the relationship between AL and OCB, AL and TL and TL and OCB, although the moderating effect of female followers is weaker than male followers. The research concludes that authentic leadership positively influences followers’ performance, however, its impact on OCB is weaker for females due to underlying differences in cognitive thinking, motivation and behaviour patterns. The study contributes to gender leadership and organizational studies research, as well as, to HRM policy & decision making.