Happy and helpful: relationship of authentic leadership with employees helping behaviors: the mediating role of hedonic and eudaimonic wellbeing among nursing staff

Authentic leadership plays a pivotal role in fostering helping behaviours among nursing staff within healthcare settings. Drawing on social learning theory, this study examines the impact of authentic leadership on nurses’ helping behaviours and investigates the mediating roles of hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in this relationship, contributing to the growing body of nursing leadership and workforce well-being research. Utilising a three-wave time-lagged design, data were collected from 230 nursing staff in large hospitals, to empirically test the proposed hypotheses. The results indicate that authentic leadership positively influences employees’ helping behaviors as well as both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being. Furthermore, the study found that both hedonic and eudaimonic well-being positively mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and employees’ helping behaviors. These findings contribute to the literature by highlighting the importance of authentic leadership in fostering positive employee behaviors and well-being, and by identifying the underlying mechanisms through which this influence occurs. The study further offers practical implications for nursing staff, healthcare administrators, and nursing workforce policymakers, emphasising the need to cultivate authentic leadership practices and prioritise nurses’ psychological well-being as foundational strategies for enhancing helping behaviours, strengthening team cohesion, and improving overall clinical and organisational effectiveness.