Authentic leadership development in a military context - A cross-sectional evalution of the Royal Norwegian air force's leadership education

Abstract

Even though leadership development programs and educations are experiencing a tremendous economic growth, the leadership development domain remains at the back of leadership research. Therefore, and in response to the call for assessments of existing leadership programs, I evaluated the ability of the Royal Norwegian Air Force’s education to develop their students’ authentic leadership. Building on authentic leadership theory I initially hypothesized significant associations between authentic leadership and age, and between authentic leadership and psychological capital. I then proposed that there were significant mean differences between the educational levels in authentic leadership when controlled for age and psychological capital. A cross-sectional design was employed to test the hypotheses using multiple regression and a one-way analysis of covariance (N = 131). The analysis’ indicated a significant association between authentic leadership and psychological capital, and no significant mean differences between the educational levels. The results are discussed in relation to issues of methodology, theory, and the Air Force. The findings contribute to theory by testing the authentic leadership development framework, to practice by underlining potential necessities and pitfalls in developing authentic leadership, and to the Air Force by suggesting advancements to their education. Recommendations for future research include the use of process oriented evaluations, consideration to alternative antecedents for authentic leadership development, and theoretical attention to the authentic leadership concept.