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Sensemaking as a bridge between authentic leadership and employee well-being: a multilevel model of work meaningfulness and group empathy
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DOI：10.1108/ijchm-03-2025-0410.png)
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Abstract
En 中文
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<jats:title>Purpose</jats:title>
<jats:p>As employee well-being becomes increasingly critical in the hospitality industry, leadership is recognized as a key driver in fostering positive employee outcomes. Prior studies examining authentic leadership and its influence on well-being largely overlook employees’ cognitive interpretation of leadership behaviors. Referencing sensemaking and conservation of resources (COR) theories, this study aims to propose and test a multilevel model linking authentic leadership with employee well-being, with work meaningfulness acting as a mediator, and group empathy serving as a cross-level moderator.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Design/methodology/approach</jats:title>
<jats:p>Survey responses from 275 employees nested within 58 leaders across nine Chinese hotels were examined using multilevel modeling.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Findings</jats:title>
<jats:p>Results suggest that work meaningfulness mediates the link between authentic leadership and employee well-being, highlighting the indirect influence of leadership on well-being outcomes. Furthermore, group empathy functions as a group-level moderator, attenuating the positive linkage between work meaningfulness and employee well-being when empathy within the group is high.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Practical implications</jats:title>
<jats:p>Hospitality companies should enhance leadership development and empathy training programs to help employees cultivate deeper meaning and purpose in their work, thereby improving overall well-being.</jats:p>
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<jats:title>Originality/value</jats:title>
<jats:p>In addition to offering empirical validation of the beneficial effects of authentic leadership, this study introduces sensemaking theory as a distinct and underutilized framework to explain how authentic leadership shapes employee well-being. Moreover, by integrating sensemaking and COR theories, this study offers a dual-process framework for future research on leadership in group settings.</jats:p>
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