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(1) This research aims to identify the relationship between authentic leadership (AL) and job engagement (JE) perceived by university teachers and (2) to investigate the relationship between AL and JE by the mediation of occupational self-efficacy (OSE).

This research is descriptive in nature, and thus, a quantitative research method is used to find the impact of AL on employee work engagement and the mediating role of employee trust and OSE. In this research, convenience sampling technique was used, a type of non-probability sampling method where the sample is taken from a group of people who are easily accessible. The sample chosen for this research comprised of 95 employees working at different universities in Bangladesh. Primary and secondary data collection methods are being used in this research. The data are collected from primary sources through questionnaires with close-ended questions.

The findings of this study support the previous studies Hassan and Ahmed (2011) indicate that the authentic behavior of leaders promotes healthy work environment that fosters the trust level of employees. When leaders are authentic, genuine and honest toward their employees and maintain transparency in an organization, it influences and motivates employees' work engagement. Furthermore, the results are supported by Hsieh and Wang’s (2015) research, which found that the relational transparency behavior exhibited by authentic leaders influences employees' self-efficacy (SE). When a leader openly shares ideas, opinions and clearly states what is expected from them, it will increase employees’ OSE and makes them more willing to get themselves engaged.

The limitations of this study were the shortage of time constraints, due to which a quantitative method was adopted to gather the data. The sample size was comprised of 95 respondents and does not represent the entire population of Bangladesh. To analyze the data, we have used the convenience sampling technique, which does not cover every sector of Bangladesh. Moreover, employees were reluctant to provide accurate data. This study is based on the perspective of university teachers only and does not explore AL from supervisors’ perspectives. Further research is required to explore this relationship from the perspective of both supervisor and employee. The sample size should be increased to cover the other regions of Bangladesh in order to represent the population. Cultural variables may also be included for future research purposes to examine the relationship between AL and work engagement because the culture of an organization determines the leadership style of a leader.

Despite the recent attention from government universities to develop the performance of public sector teaching staff, scientific public management research is developing unfortunately restricted (Osborne, 2016). Moreover, the findings of this study depict the importance to understand the constructions like leaders' authenticity that lead to the promotion of confidence in their employees and, as such, an increase in their JE and performance. In managerial implication, this study has provided useful information to the management of the private and public sectors. With this information, the management will be able to know how to increase the engagement and commitment of employees. This research will help academic professionals in public and private sector universities to know how AL style positively influences employees’ engagement.

This is an original work with practical value.