Impact of women authentic leadership on individual performance, innovative behaviour and self-efficacy: mediating role of employee resilience

This developmental study aims to investigate the impact of women authentic leadership on individual performance, innovative behaviour, and self-efficacy, with employee resilience examined as a mediating variable. Drawing upon social learning theory and social information processing theory, the research proposes that women leaders, through authentic leadership behaviours, foster trust, adaptability, and creativity among employees, which in turn enhances workplace outcomes. A time-lag quantitative design was employed, with data collected from women working in service sector organizations in Rawalpindi and Islamabad, Pakistan. Employees provided responses on innovative behaviour and individual performance, while administrators assessed authentic leadership, employee resilience, and self-efficacy. Established measurement scales were adopted, and data analysis was conducted using statistical techniques to test the hypothesised relationships. The study contributes to leadership literature by addressing the underexplored domain of women’s authentic leadership, offering empirical evidence of its role in strengthening employee resilience, and in turn improving performance, innovation, and self-belief. Findings are expected to inform both scholars and practitioners on how women leaders can leverage authenticity to build resilient, high-performing teams.