Gender, Identity, and the Authentic Leadership of Small Businesses.

The authentic leadership (AL) framework was explored within small businesses to determine whether owners were authentic leaders who elicited enhanced job satisfaction and performance in their associates. Gender identity and work-role identity were mediators between AL and job satisfaction, and owner gender was a moderator of the AL framework. A total of 155 owners and associates from 63 small businesses in three U.S. states were studied. Using structural equation modeling, three leader models were developed--all genders, women only, and men only, and included the owner(s) and their associate(s). The findings revealed that for the all genders and women-only models, AL led to greater job satisfaction; job satisfaction did not mediate AL and performance; and leader gender moderated AL. For the men-only model, gender identity and work role identity mediated AL and job satisfaction. The results are discussed relative to gender, identity, and AL. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]