Authentic leadership development and influence in the construction industry of Singapore

There is no generally accepted theory of leadership that adequately explains all aspects of the leadership process. However, due to growing complexity of the business world, there is a renewed quest for a theory that lies at the roots of all positive forms of leadership and can explain the processes whereby leaders develop and influence their followers and achieve veritable organizational performance. Such root construct of leadership has been termed as authentic leadership in the latest management literature.Since research on authentic leadership is nascent, the current study endeavors to expand the conceptualization of the construct through a qualitative approach. This work targets to examine how authentic leaders develop and influence their followers and organizations. The current research also aims to uncover the underlying leadership and social processes that yield authentic leadership. To address these research objectives, grounded theory methodology was adopted. In addition to an exploratory study of emergent project leaders, 45 in-depth interviews and four sets of observations were conducted with senior executives and managers in the construction industry of Singapore. Research participants were selected based on their reputation for being authentic leaders.