Does authentic leadership predict employee resilience through trust? A daily diary investigation into construction engineering project employees in China

Grounded in the social exchange theory and conservation of resources theory, this study aims to explore the impact of daily perceived authentic leadership on employee resilience within construction engineering project organizations, with a particular focus on the mediating role of trust in leaders. The study employed a diary method involving 204 employees in southwest China. Data were gathered over three weeks through online questionnaires, yielding a total of 3,060 data points. A multilevel time-series cross-lagged path analysis was conducted to test main and mediating effects. Perceptions of authentic leadership on the prior day positively predicted employees’ resilience the following day. Trust in leaders mediated this association, indicating that authentic leadership enhances trust, which in turn bolsters employee resilience. The findings revealed the crucial role of trust in the dynamic between authentic leadership and employee resilience, offering theoretical and practical insights into the impact of leadership on employee outcomes. Future research should explore various organizational contexts and cultural settings to validate and extend these findings, thereby improving the external validity and generalizability of the conclusions. The results suggest that construction engineering project managers should foster authentic leadership and implement trust-building initiatives to strengthen workforce resilience. This study advances the literature by identifying trust as a key mediator in the relationship between authentic leadership and employee resilience. It employs a novel daily diary approach to explore dynamic relationships, highlighting new avenues for research on leadership and resilience within organizational contexts.