"To Thine Own Self Be True!": Ascending the Organizational Hierarchy through Trait Authenticity and Morality

We propose that trait authenticity–the degree to which individuals connect with and act upon their true selves, regardless of situational context or social roles–leads perceivers to voluntarily accord targets more workplace power. Across four experiments (total N=1,648), participants afforded more power to authentic versus inauthentic targets (Experiments 1-4). Furthermore, Experiments 2 and 3 showed–using both measurement-of-mediation and moderation-of-process designs–that moral reputation accounts for the authenticity-to-power affordance effect. Finally, our results held for individuals with either high or low initial power levels (Experiment 2), for a leadership support outcome (Experiments 3 and 4) and in a vivid, virtual team context varying in personal stakes (Experiment 4). Overall, we demonstrate authenticity, and its derivative moral reputation, as a novel path to being afforded workplace power, benefiting even those with initially limited resources.