Abstract
Extant literature has shown that authenticity is positively related with life satisfaction and psychological well-being. Nonetheless, most of the previous research has been conducted in Western and European individualistic countries. The association of authenticity with life satisfaction and psychological well-being in the Asian collectivist context remains unexplored. In addition, previous research has not investigated the psychological processes that link authenticity to life satisfaction and well-being. To void these gaps, the current research investigated the association of authenticity with life satisfaction and psychological well-being, while examining the mediating role of emotional expressiveness in these associations. For the present study, data were collected from 254 employees from India, a predominantly collectivist culture. Standardized measures were used to assess the research constructs. The results of the study show positive associations between authenticity, life satisfaction, and psychological well-being. Specifically, the results show that the greater the individuals’ authenticity, the higher their life satisfaction and psychological well-being. In addition, the research shows that individuals high on authenticity are more emotionally expressive than individuals who are low on authenticity. This research provides evidence regarding the implications of authenticity for individuals’ psychological health and well-being in Asian collectivist context.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
31 March 2021
A Correction to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-021-00359-4
References
Anderson, J. C., & Gerbing, D. W. (1988). Structural equation modeling in practice: A review and recommended two-step approach. Psychological Bulletin, 103(3), 411–423.
Anseel, F., Lievens, F., Schollaert, E., & Choragwicka, B. (2010). Response rates in organizational science, 1995–2008: A meta-analytic review and guidelines for survey researchers. Journal of Business and Psychology, 25(3), 335–349.
Ariza-Montes, A., Giorgi, G., Leal-Rodriguez, A., & Ramirez-Sobrino, J. (2017). Authenticity and subjective well-being within the context of a religious organization. Frontiers in Psychology, 8, 1–14.
Barrett-Lennard, G. T. (1998). Carl Rogers’ helping system: Journey and substance. London: Sage.
Baruch, Y., & Holtom, B. C. (2008). Survey response rate levels and trends in organizational research. Human Relations, 61(8), 1139–1160.
Boyraz, G., Waits, J. B., & Felix, V. A. (2014). Authenticity, life satisfaction, and distress: A longitudinal analysis. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 61(3), 498–505.
Burgin, C. J., Brown, L. H., Royal, A., Silvia, P. J., Barrantes-Vidal, N., & Kwapil, T. R. (2012). Being with others and feeling happy: Emotional expressivity in everyday life. Personality and Individual Differences, 53(3), 185–190.
Clark, M. S., & Finkel, E. J. (2004). Does expressing emotion promote well-being? It depends on relationship context. In L. Z. Tiedens & C. W. Leach (Eds.), The social life of emotions (pp. 105–126). New York, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Deci, E., & Ryan, R. M. (1985). Intrinsic motivation and self-determination in human behavior. New York, NY: Plenum Press.
Diener, E., Emmons, R. A., Larsen, R. J., & Griffin, S. (1985). The satisfaction with life scale. Journal of Personality Assessment, 49(1), 71–75.
Du, H., King, R. B., & Chi, P. (2017). Self-esteem and subjective well-being revisited: The roles of personal, relational, and collective self-esteem. PLoS ONE, 12(8), e0183958.
English, T., & Chen, S. (2011). Self-concept consistency and culture: The differential impact of two forms of consistency. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 37(6), 838–849.
English, T., & John, O. P. (2013). Understanding the social effects of emotion regulation: The mediating role of authenticity for individual differences in suppression. Emotion, 13(2), 314–329.
Goffee, R., & Jones, G. (2005). Managing authenticity: The paradox of great leadership. Harvard Business Review, 83(12), 86–94.
Gohm, C. L., & Clore, G. L. (2002). Four latent traits of emotional experience and their involvement in well-being, coping, and attributional style. Cognition and Emotion, 16(4), 495–518.
Grégoire, S., Baron, L., Ménard, J., & Lachance, L. (2014). The authenticity scale: Psychometric properties of a French translation and exploration of its relationships with personality and well-being. Canadian Journal of Behavioral Science, 46(3), 346–355.
Gross, J. J., & John, O. P. (2003). Individual differences in two emotion regulation processes: Implications for affect, relationships, and well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 85(2), 348–362.
Haga, S. M., Kraft, P., & Corby, E. K. (2009). Emotion regulation: Antecedents and well-being outcomes of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression in cross-cultural samples. Journal of Happiness Studies, 10(3), 271–291.
Henrich, J., Heine, S. J., & Norenzayan, A. (2010). Most people are not WEIRD. Nature, 466, 29.
Heppner, W. L., Kernis, M. H., Nezlek, J. B., Foster, J., Lakey, C. E., & Goldman, B. M. (2008). Within-person relationships among daily self-esteem, need satisfaction, and authenticity. Psychological Science, 19(11), 1140–1145.
Hofstede, G., Hofstede, G. J., & Minkov, M. (2010). National cultures by nations. Retrieved October 14, 2018, from https://geert-hofstede.com/india.html.
Ibarra, H. (2015). The authenticity paradox: Why feeling like a fake can be sign of growth. Harvard Business Review, 93(1), 52–59.
Ilies, R., Curşeu, P. L., Dimotakis, N., & Spitzmuller, M. (2013). Leaders’ emotional expressiveness and their behavioral and relational authenticity: Effects on followers. European Journal of Work and Organizational Psychology, 22(1), 4–14.
Kernis, M. H., & Goldman, B. M. (2006). A multicomponent conceptualization of authenticity: Theory and research. Advances in Experimental Social Psychology, 38, 283–357.
Kifer, Y., Heller, D., Perunovic, W. Q. E., & Galinsky, A. D. (2013). The good life of the powerful: The experience of power and authenticity enhances subjective well-being. Psychological Science, 24(3), 280–288.
Kim, H. S., & Sherman, D. K. (2007). “Express yourself”: Culture and the effect of self-expression on choice. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 92(1), 1–11.
King, L. A., & Emmons, R. A. (1991). Psychological, physical, and interpersonal correlates of emotional expressiveness, conflict, and control. European Journal of Personality, 5(2), 131–150.
Kokkoris, M. D., & Kühnen, U. (2014). “Express the real you”: Cultural differences in the perception of self-expression as authenticity. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(8), 1221–1228.
Kring, A. M., Smith, D. A., & Neale, J. M. (1994). Individual differences in dispositional expressiveness: Development and validation of the Emotional Expressiveness Scale. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 66(5), 934–949.
Maltby, J., Wood, A. L., Day, L., & Pinto, D. (2012). The position of authenticity within extant models of personality. Personality and Individual Differences, 52(3), 269–273.
Markus, H. R., & Kitayama, S. (1991). Culture and the self: Implications for cognition, emotion, and motivation. Psychological Review, 98(2), 224–253.
May, R. (1981). Freedom and destiny. New York, NY: Basic Books.
Nulty, D. D. (2008). The adequacy of response rates to online and paper surveys: What can be done? Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education, 33(3), 301–314.
Ogruk, G., & Anderson, T. (2018). The impact of work engagement and authenticity on employees’ job performance and well-being: Non-self-report measures of in-role and extra-role job performance. New Zealand Journal of Human Resource Management, 18(1), 47–64.
Pavot, W., & Diener, E. (1993). Review of the satisfaction with life scale. Psychological Assessment, 5, 164–172.
Preacher, K. J., & Hayes, A. F. (2004). SPSS and SAS procedures for estimating indirect effects in simple mediation models. Behavior Research Methods, 36(4), 717–731.
Riggio, H. R., & Riggio, R. E. (2002). Emotional expressiveness, extraversion, and neuroticism: A meta-analysis. Journal of Nonverbal Behavior, 26(4), 195–218.
Robinson, O. C., Lopez, F. G., Ramos, K., & Nartova-Bochaver, S. (2012). Authenticity, social context, and well-being in the United States, England, and Russia: A three country comparative analysis. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 44(5), 719–737.
Rogers, C. R. (1961). On becoming a person: A therapist’s view of psychotherapy. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Rogers, C. R. (1964). Toward a modern approach to values: The valuing process in the mature person. Journal of Abnormal and Social Psychology, 68(2), 160–167.
Roland, A. (1988). In search of self in India and Japan: Towards a cross-cultural psychology. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.
Rottenberg, J., & Gross, J. J. (2003). When emotion goes wrong: Realizing the promise of affective science. Clinical Psychology: Science and Practice, 10(2), 227–232.
Ryff, C. D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57(6), 1069–1081.
Ryff, C. D., & Keyes, C. L. M. (1995). The structure of psychological well-being revisited. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 69(4), 719–727.
Sheldon, K. M., Ryan, R. M., Rawsthorne, L. J., & Ilardi, B. (1997). Trait self and true self: Cross-role variation in the big-five personality traits and its relations with psychological authenticity and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 73(6), 1380–1393.
Sinha, J. B. P., Singh, S., Gupta, P., Srivastava, K. B. L., Sinha, R. B. N., Srivastava, S., et al. (2010). An exploration of the Indian mindset. Psychological Studies, 55(1), 3–17.
Sinha, D., & Tripathi, R. C. (1994). Individualism in a collectivist culture: A case of coexistence of opposites. In U. Kim, H. C. Triandis, C. Kagitcibasi, S. C. Choi, & G. Yoon (Eds.), Individualism and collectivism: Theory, method and application (pp. 123–136). Thousand Oaks: Sage.
Slabu, L., Lenton, A. P., Sedikides, C., & Bruder, M. (2014). Trait and state authenticity across cultures. Journal of Cross-Cultural Psychology, 45(9), 1347–1373.
Suh, E. M. (2002). Culture, identity consistency, and subjective well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 83(6), 1378–1391.
Sutton, A. (2018). Distinguishing between authenticity and personality consistency in predicting well-being: A mixed method approach. European Review of Applied Psychology, 68(3), 117–130.
Thomaes, S., Sedikides, C., van den Bos, N., Hutteman, R., & Reijntjes, A. (2017). Happy to be “Me?” Authenticity, psychological need satisfaction, and subjective well-being in adolescence. Child Development, 88(4), 1045–1056.
Toor, S. R., & Ofori, G. (2009). Authenticity and its influence on psychological well-being and contingent self-esteem of leaders in Singapore construction sector. Construction Management and Economics, 27(3), 299–313.
Triandis, H. C., & Suh, E. M. (2002). Cultural influences on personality. Annual Review of Psychology, 53, 133–160.
van den Bosch, R., & Taris, T. W. (2014). Authenticity at work: Development and validation of an individual authenticity measure at work. Journal of Happiness Studies, 15(1), 1–18.
Van Hemert, D. A., van de Vijver, F. J. R., & Vingerhoets, A. J. J. M. (2011). Culture and crying: Prevalences and gender differences. Cross-Cultural Research, 45(4), 399–431.
Wang, Y., & Li, Z. (2018). Authenticity as a mediator of the relationship between power contingent self-esteem and subjective well-being. Frontiers in Psychology, 9(1066), 1–9.
Wood, A. M., Linley, P. A., Maltby, J., Baliousis, M., & Joseph, S. (2008). The authentic personality: A theoretical and empirical conceptualization and the development of the authenticity scale. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 55(3), 385–399.
Funding
This research was supported by Post-Doctor Research Program (2015) through Incheon Nationa University (INU), Incheon, Republic of Korea.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
We declare that we have no conflict of interest.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Rathi, N., Lee, K. Does It Pay to Be Authentic? Implications of Authenticity for Life Satisfaction and Psychological Well-Being in a Collectivist Culture. J Happiness Stud 22, 147–161 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00223-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10902-020-00223-x