Linking authentic leadership, moral voice and silence—A serial mediation model comprising follower constructive cognition and moral efficacy

Authentic leadership is widely considered a positive form of moral leadership that emphasizes a leader’s self-awareness, self-concordance, and modeling of self-regulatory behaviors. It is expected that authentic leaders foster moral employee behavior. However, empirical evidence for this assumption with a clear focus on the moral domain is still rather scarce. Furthermore, little is known about mediating mechanisms, especially pertaining to self-regulation of followers. Our research focused on two important facets of moral employee behavior: voice and silence. We (a) examined relationships between authentic leadership, moral voice, and two major forms of moral silence (quiescent and acquiescent) and (b) tested follower constructive cognition and moral efficacy as self-regulatory mechanisms in a serial mediation model. We conducted a cross-sectional study with employees from different organizations ( n = 295). As expected, analyses indicated that authentic leadership is positively related to self-reported voice and negatively to self-reported silence on moral issues. Pertaining to the outcomes quiescent moral silence and moral voice, results revealed a serial mediation effect via constructive cognition and moral efficacy. Furthermore, unique indirect effects of each mediator were found. Thus, authentic leadership can enhance moral behavior mediated by follower constructive cognition and moral efficacy. Based on these insights, new interventions for overcoming silence and promoting voice in organizations can be designed.