Tahir Masood Qureshi
The purpose of this empirical research is to explore the impact of authentic leadership on organizational identification and citizenship behavior in addition to exploring the mediating role of organization virtuousness and collective psychological capital between authentic leadership and organizational identification. In this quantitative and cross-sectional study five-point Likert scale survey was used to obtain primary data opting purposive sampling technique from professionals working in the banking industry of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries including Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates. The analysis revealed that all tested propositions except mediating role of organization virtuousness between authentic leadership and organization citizenship behavior are accepted. Psychologically empowered employees stimulate pro-social behavior in organizations in addition to showing transparency, self-awareness, and unbiased behaviors at high ethical and moral standards. Banks operating in the GCC countries need to focus more on authentic leadership in relation to collective psychological capital and organizational virtuousness to operate with employees having organization citizenship behavior. This combination will make the banks competitive and sustainable in the short and long run.