Unselfish leaders? Understanding the role of altruistic leadership and organizational learning on happiness at work (HAW)

Purpose - The purpose of this paper is to examine to what extent altruistic leadership (AL) contribute to happiness at work (HAW). In addition, the authors analyze the mediating role of those conditions that facilitate learning in the relationship between AL and HAW. Design/methodology/approach - Confirmatory factor analysis by means of structural equation models was performed to check the proposed theoretical model, using a sample of 122 frontline bank employees. Findings - Results show that, although specific leadership styles might contribute to employee well-being, it seems the shared characteristic of altruism what significantly impact employees HAW, by means of organizational learning capability. Originality/value - Scarce research examines altruism as a leadership behavior. The authors provide to the leadership literature a theoretical model, and empirical evidence that altruism is an essential leadership behavior to promote learning and HAW.