Employee participation in performance measurement system: focusing on job satisfaction and leadership

Purpose This study examines how employee participation in the performance measurement system affects the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction. Design/methodology/approach Survey data for this study were obtained from 322 employees in South Korea. Structural equation modeling and bootstrapping method were applied to test the proposed hypotheses. Findings This study first confirmed that authentic leadership positively affects job satisfaction. In addition, the results showed that employees' participation in developing performance measures partially mediated the relationship between authentic leadership and job satisfaction. Practical implications The findings imply that employees' participation in developing performance measures, which is promoted by authentic leadership, can be a strategy for enhancing job satisfaction. Therefore, in order to increase employees' job satisfaction, organizations need to promote employee participation in the performance measurement system and develop authenticity in leaders. Originality/value Employees' participation in developing performance measures has not been investigated sufficiently from the leadership perspective. This study expands the literature on the influence of employee participation in the performance measurement system on work-related outcomes by demonstrating that employees' participation in developing performance measures partially mediates the effect of authentic leadership on employee job satisfaction.