Paradoxes of authentic leadership: Leader identity struggles
(2014) In Leadership 10(4). p.437-455- Abstract
- Using in-depth interview material, this article explores the socially constructed and locally mediated nature of authentic leadership. The findings illustrate an irony of authentic leadership: while leaders claim that it is their true and natural selves that make them good leaders; simultaneously, they must restrain their claimed authenticity in order to be perceived as good leaders. This generates tensions that undermine the construction of a more stable and coherent leader identity. The study finds that in order to resolve these tensions, the managers develop metaphorical selves-Mother Teresa, messiah and coach-as a way of trying to accommodate conflicting identity claims while remaining true to the idea of themselves as authentic... (More)
- Using in-depth interview material, this article explores the socially constructed and locally mediated nature of authentic leadership. The findings illustrate an irony of authentic leadership: while leaders claim that it is their true and natural selves that make them good leaders; simultaneously, they must restrain their claimed authenticity in order to be perceived as good leaders. This generates tensions that undermine the construction of a more stable and coherent leader identity. The study finds that in order to resolve these tensions, the managers develop metaphorical selves-Mother Teresa, messiah and coach-as a way of trying to accommodate conflicting identity claims while remaining true to the idea of themselves as authentic leaders exercising good leadership. These findings contribute to a constructed, situational and contested notion of leadership by showing how authenticity is an existential project of 'essentialising' fragmented and conflicting selves. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
https://lup.lub.lu.se/record/4803744
- author
- Nyberg, Daniel and Sveningsson, Stefan LU
- organization
- publishing date
- 2014
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Authentic leadership, metaphors, discourse, identity, social, construction
- in
- Leadership
- volume
- 10
- issue
- 4
- pages
- 437 - 455
- publisher
- SAGE Publications
- external identifiers
-
- wos:000342232900003
- scopus:84907076554
- ISSN
- 1742-7169
- DOI
- 10.1177/1742715013504425
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 4c6cd085-70c3-4fc2-b08b-cf9a8f4dfbca (old id 4803744)
- date added to LUP
- 2016-04-01 13:10:27
- date last changed
- 2022-03-29 05:56:29
@article{4c6cd085-70c3-4fc2-b08b-cf9a8f4dfbca,
abstract = {{Using in-depth interview material, this article explores the socially constructed and locally mediated nature of authentic leadership. The findings illustrate an irony of authentic leadership: while leaders claim that it is their true and natural selves that make them good leaders; simultaneously, they must restrain their claimed authenticity in order to be perceived as good leaders. This generates tensions that undermine the construction of a more stable and coherent leader identity. The study finds that in order to resolve these tensions, the managers develop metaphorical selves-Mother Teresa, messiah and coach-as a way of trying to accommodate conflicting identity claims while remaining true to the idea of themselves as authentic leaders exercising good leadership. These findings contribute to a constructed, situational and contested notion of leadership by showing how authenticity is an existential project of 'essentialising' fragmented and conflicting selves.}},
author = {{Nyberg, Daniel and Sveningsson, Stefan}},
issn = {{1742-7169}},
keywords = {{Authentic leadership; metaphors; discourse; identity; social; construction}},
language = {{eng}},
number = {{4}},
pages = {{437--455}},
publisher = {{SAGE Publications}},
series = {{Leadership}},
title = {{Paradoxes of authentic leadership: Leader identity struggles}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/1742715013504425}},
doi = {{10.1177/1742715013504425}},
volume = {{10}},
year = {{2014}},
}