TARGET ARTICLE: Toward a Conceptualization of Optimal Self-Esteem

“Some years ago, Ajzen and Fishbein (1977) made a similar point regarding the usefulness of attitudes as predictors of behaviors.”

“their personal resources during problem-solving activities (Kernis, 2003; Vainio & Daukantaitė, 2016).”

“An authentic leader is shown to others in an open, honest, yet appropriate manner, which promotes trust in relationships (Kernis, 2003; Wong and Cummings, 2009; Zhang et al., 2021).”

“Kernis (2003) argued that because people who possess high explicit and implicit self-esteem (i.e., “optimal self-esteem”) are highly aware of and own their personal attributes, thoughts, values, feelings, motives, and beliefs, including their strengths and weaknesses, they are able to remain true…”

“Obviously, cognitive restructuring during psychotherapy primarily addresses reflective self-evaluation, which involves higher cognitive processes [72–74] and is closely associated with explicit self-esteem [68,69].”

“At each level of self-esteem, individual differences exist in its instability (Kernis, 2003, 2005).”

“For instance, greater authenticity (defined as the “the unobstructed operation of one’s true, or core, self in one’s daily enterprise”; Kernis, 2003, p. 13) predicts higher self-esteem, physical health, and vitality (Kernis & Goldman, 2006), and merely increasing the cognitive accessibility of true…”

“…moral perspective, which is expressed through behaviors and decision making in accordance with the leader’s internal values (Brown et al., 2005; Kernis, 2003), may bring out the EI self-regulation among mentees, which includes the ability to control or redirect disruptive impulses and moods,…”

“Kernis (2003) has suggested that individuals with fragile self-esteem may be more vulnerable to psychological dysfunction.”

“Several forms of fragile-positive self-esteem have been distinguished in the literature (e.g. Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Kernis, 2003; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001; Salmivalli, 2001).”

“As a relation-oriented leadership style (Kernis, 2003), authentic leadership transparently shares information, sets ethical role models, utilises followers ’ inputs in decision-making and creates conditions that promote positive extra-role behaviours with followers (Avolio and Mhatre, 2011).”

“results not only extend Koole et al.’s findings in this way, but they bolster our confidence in their results by finding the effect with the most common measure of ESE (i.e., the RSES), which arguably is a more valid measure of ESE. Second, the results are important because they imply that Koole et al.’s (2001) findin…”

“In line with this assertion, employees are more likely to distort their responses when they demonstrate either low or high self-esteem (Kernis, 2003).”

“Kernis introduced a definition of authenticity as “the unobstructed operation of one’s true, or core, self in one’s daily enterprise” [31].”

“Kernis (2003) describes authenticity as “the unobstructed operation of one’s true, or core, self in one’s daily enterprise” (p. 13).”

“The term self-esteem instability refers to transient fluctuations in moment-tomoment feelings of self-worth over time (Kernis, 2003; Kernis, 2005).”

“Boosting self-worth can have the opposite effect, especially when the increase in self-worth is momentary and has a “fragile” or uncertain foundation (Crocker et al., 2006; Jones & Berglas, 1978; Kernis, 2003; Rhodewalt & Davison, 1986).”

“…relational transparency, as a key component of authenticity, “involves valuing and achieving openness and truthfulness in one’s close relationships” (Kernis, 2003, p. 15), then it is necessary to consider not only how transparent a leader is with team members, but also how receptive he/she is to…”

“That is, those who possess high levels of contingent self-esteem are only able to maintain their feelings of self-worth as long as they are able to successfully meet the standards upon which their self-esteem is based (Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003).”

“The present research goes a step beyond the previous studies, by moving from the specific disposition of adolescents-contingent maternal self-worth to the more general personality disposition of contingent self-esteem as conceptualized by Crocker and Park (2004) and by Kernis (2003).”

“A final suggestion in regards to self-esteem is that future researchers could explore the role of secure and fragile self-esteem in relation to digital dating abuse, as opposed to viewing self-esteem as a unified construct (see Zeigler-Hill et al., 2012; Kernis, 2003).”

“…alternative causal models (and was not designed to do so), previous research has provided some supporting evidence for self-presentation serving as a predictor of interpersonal functioning and relationship satisfaction (see Kashy & DePaulo, 1996; Kernis, 2003; Schlenker, 1984; Vohs et al., 2005).”

“Such instability of self-worth can promote poor psychological health (Kernis, 2003).”

“For instance, psychotherapy should build on people’s personal resources and mechanisms (Tarrier et al., 1993), while redirecting self-effort towards more coherence and authenticity (Kernis, 2003).”

“In Table 1 the three possible instances of Internal Dissonance at tx are outlined, based on the rationale outlined by Kernis (2003).”

“, 2002), rather than a feature of global self-esteem influenced by a range of diverse self-domains (Kernis, 2003).”

“This is because it has been suggested that although high self-esteem individuals report favorable feelings of self-worth, they may simultaneously hold unfavorable feelings of self worth of which they are unaware (Kernis, 2003).”

“Patients with narcissistic personality disorder tend to exhibit contingent and defensive self-esteem (103).”

“Underpinning Avolio et al’s notion of the authentic self is the work of Harter (2002) and Kernis (2003) who equate authenticity with acting in accordance with one’s ‘true self’.”

“While psychologists have paid much attention to the role of the experience of authenticity in promoting psychological well-being (Kernis, 2003; Kifer et al., 2013), organizational scholars are interested in how others react to the display of authenticity (Cha et al., 2019; Gill and Caza, 2018).”

“These statements were then mapped onto Kernis’ (2003) model of authentic leadership.”

“Authentic functioning arises from one's personal thoughts, emotions, desires, strengths and weaknesses, objective processing of selfsufficient information, actions appropriate to personal values, beliefs and rewards, fines and awareness of the satisfaction of others (Kernis, 2003).”

“both self-esteem and relationship satisfaction [66,67].”

“However, it can be assumed that some of the effects attributed to the level of self-esteem are, to a greater or lesser extent, actually provoked by these further facets of self-esteem and/or their interactions (cf. Crocker and Park 2004; Kernis 2003).”

“Another critical characteristic for sport employees is authenticity, which refers to the “unobstructed operation of one’s true, or core, self in one’s daily enterprise” (Kernis, 2003, p. 1).”

“…or ignoring private knowledge, internal experiences, and externally based evaluative information) (Walumbwa et al, 2008; Ilies et al., 2005; Kernis, 2003); • low self-monitoring (Kernis, 2003); • optimal self-esteem (Walumbwa et al., 2008; Novicevic et al, 2006; Avolio et al, 2005;…”

“In contrast, when individuals with noncontingent self-esteem encounter such events, they may react with strong emotions such as elation or disappointment, but their global sense of self-worth will be relatively unaffected (Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003).”

“The social psychology literature offers support for the relationship between superior levels of morality and authenticity (e.g., Kernis, 2003; Knobe, 2005).”

“…colleagues (Crocker & Knight, 2005; Crocker & Wolfe, 2001) maintain that individuals often base their feelings of worth on particularly significant areas of their lives; these areas regulate their behavior, leading to efforts to minimize failure and maximize success in them (see also Kernis, 2003).”

“For example, the distinction between fragile self-esteem and secure self-esteem (Kernis, 2003, Deci & Ryan, 1995) provides an alternative underlying explanation why people might pursue a goal for self-esteem reasons.”

“It is possible that people with low self-esteem will turn towards contingencies and try to extract self-worth from specific attainments or evaluations in order to repair their low self-esteem (Kernis, 2003; Vansteenkiste et al., 2008).”

“Self-esteem is broadly defined as how people feel about themselves (Kernis, 2003).”

“…self-esteem might be achieved by encouraging individuals to see themselves as persons of worth, independent of what they have achieved, rather than turning to external sources of validation such as having a well-paid job, academic degrees, or a perfect family (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Kernis, 2003).”

“…of AL, we do not recommend abandoning the four component conceptualization of AL, as it is grounded in social psychological research on authenticity (Kernis, 2003; Kernis & Goldman, 2006), and hence reflects important components of AL that we consider to be fundamental to the phenomenon.”

“Kernis (2003) also provides a concise definition of global self-esteem as being a construct consisting of selfrelated emotions tied to worthiness, value, likeableness, and acceptance.”

“This shift away from focusing exclusively on selfesteem level is important because there is more to self-esteem than simply whether it is high or low (e.g., Kernis, 2003).”

“Finally, future research also could take into account indicators of fragility of self-esteem, such as stability of one’s self-esteem (Kernis, 2003), in addition to one’s global level of self-worth, as previous research documented consistent associations between high but fragile self-esteem and…”

“Such a leader has a high level of self-esteem that is not easily influenced by any situation (Kernis, 2003).”

“Further, by minimizing expressions of inappropriate feelings (e.g., rants and anger) through their self-awareness (Kernis, 2003), leaders should embolden followers to be proactive at work and explore ideas more freely without fearing supervisors’ chastisement.”

“…history of studying outcomes such as coping (e.g., Lazarus & Folkman, 1984), emotion regulation (e.g., Gross, 2002) and self-esteem stability (e.g., Kernis, 2003) by focusing on the cognitive response to both good and bad circumstances, research actually is fairly quiet on how underlying affective…”

“In contrast, reality-based theories hold that distorted self-views (inflated and deflated) have detrimental emotional consequences, and that realistic self-views are emotionally healthy (Jahoda, 1958; Kernis, 2003).”

“Some theorists have emphasized that self-esteem may be more or less generally dependent on external outcomes (Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003), while others have argued that people’s self-esteem is contingent on experiences related to specific domains, such as physical appearance or approval from others (Crocker et al.”

“Kernis (2003) defined authenticity as a psychological construct as ‘the unobstructed operation of one’s true, or core, self in one’s daily enterprise’ (p.13).”

“A leader occupies a distinctive role in organizations and at the same time represents the collective interest (Kernis 2003; May et al. 2003; Spitzmuller and Ilies 2010; Tate 2008).”