The mechanism of authentic leadership on employees’ achievement goal-the mediating role of stimulus self-regulation

This study examines authentic leadership and stimulus self-regulation (SSR) as an integrated framework for understanding employee motivation and adaptive work outcomes. Conceptualised as a relational condition, authentic leadership links to employees’ goal orientations through constructive engagement. SSR, in turn, represents a central psychological process shaping how employees interpret and respond to leadership cues when forming achievement goals. Analysing data from 1016 employees in Taiwan’s creative life industry through a mixed-mode survey, the study explores relational patterns among leadership, SSR and organisational creative climate. Results indicate that authentic leadership is positively associated with employees’ achievement goals, with SSR similarly linked to variations in goal pursuit, suggesting an explanatory psychological process rather than a causal mechanism. Organisational creative climate conditions these associations, implying that relationship strength varies with levels of creative support. A substitution effect emerges: a strong creative climate may partially compensate for variations in leadership-related motivational signals, sustaining engagement with achievement goals. Overall, the findings offer an associational, multilevel account of how leadership, self-regulatory processes, and contextual climate interrelate in creativity-driven settings, highlighting the importance of integrating psychological and contextual conditions when interpreting motivational variation within cross-sectional survey research.