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.”

“It is tempting to identify in the congruence of high implicit and high explicit trait self-esteem the roots of the secure self-esteem (Kernis, 2003), although the replicability of these findings is likely to be heavily dependent on reliability of implicit measures (in this regard, see leBel & Paunonen, 2011).”

“Specifically, because people with high PCSW are typically attentive or feel strongly toward positive events, they tend to feel good about themselves (their self-worth is easily increased) and generate positive emotions during positive events (Kernis, 2003; Fredrickson and Losada, 2005).”

“…on self-evaluation, where individual narcissism – an inflated view of oneself that requires continual external validation (Crocker & Park, 2004; Emmons, 1987) is differentiated from secure self-esteem – a real pride people take in their strengths (e.g., Kernis, 2003; Marchlewska & Cichocka, 2017).”

“According to Kernis (2003), transparent relationality need not mean an unguarded disclosure of one’s deepest self in each and every situation.”

“One factor that contributes to instability of self-esteem is an acute dependence on external events for a sense of self-worth, making unstable positive self-views particularly defensive (Kernis, 2003).”

“With regard to goals that are driven by the intention to avoid negative emotions, the desire not to feel unworthy and invaluable can be seen as an important representative of the avoidance/within-person category of goal-striving reasons (Ellis, 2005; Kernis, 2003).”

“413) and, also, the general concept of authenticity in behavior as it can apply to leadership (Kernis, 2003).”

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

“Self-esteem relates to whether people view themselves as good and valuable people (Kernis 2003).”

“It is important to note that contingent selfesteem is often considered to be an indicator of fragile self-esteem because feelings of selfworth that are contingent can only be maintained so long as the individual is able to meet the standard for success within the relevant domains (Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003).”

“, 2020), as well as the well-being of employees (Kernis, 2003; Ilies et al., 2005; Rautenbach and Rothmann, 2017b; Kerns, 2018; Agarwal, 2021; Nair et al., 2021), directly or indirectly.”

“A recent study of physical pain tolerance by Master et al. (2009) found that women who focused on a picture of their romantic partner reported less physical pain during repeated exposures to a heated probe.”

“This suggests that conservative people may engage in self-protective and defensive coping mechanisms (including outgroup derogation) as a way to cope with the feelings of insecurity engendered by contingent self-esteem (Kernis, 2003; Ryan & Deci, 2004).”

“Researchers disagree on how best to define self-esteem (e.g., Kernis, 2003).”

“While narcissistic individuals have fragile self-esteem, those with optimal or authentic high self-esteem have a self-concept that is not only positive but is also stable over time and anchored in realism ( Kernis, 2003 ).”

“Self-esteem is considered a fairly stable trait, such that individuals with relatively high self-esteem during one developmental period are likely to have high self-esteem at later points in development (Kernis, 2003; Orth & Robins, 2014).”

“In contrast, a “true self” approach focuses on the individual both knowing themselves and acting consistently with that self (e. g., Kernis, 2003), while adhering to a morally neutral stance.”

“Additionally, it refers to showing an understanding of an individual’s strengths and weaknesses and the multifaceted nature of the self, which includes gaining insight into the self through exposure to others and being cognizant of one’s impact on other people (Kernis, 2003).”

“that is boosted by reaching goals yet threatened by perceived failure (Kernis, 2003).”

“As an emerging theory, there is a lack of empirical evidence to validate these impressions of authenticity which suggests self-awareness, but the comparable behaviour is seen as inconsistent (Kernis, 2003).”

“self-esteem whereby one’s ego is not “on the line” and one is less concerned about proving oneself or feeling pressured to believe or think about oneself in a particular way (Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003; Ryan, 1995).”

“This is also emphasized, as the dimensions of authentic leadership differ from the conceptualization of the underlying construct of authenticity (Helmuth et al., 2023; Kernis, 2003).”

“Employees who are authentic at work try to realize their potential and express their values consistently, which, in turn, make it less likely that they engage in unhealthy self-regulation, eventually reducing their risk of getting exhausted (Grandey, 2000; Kernis, 2003).”

“…model (Walumbwa et al., 2008) that includes; (a) the leader's self-aware ness (strengths, ways of improvement and own motivations of the leader; Kernis, 2003), (b) relational transparency (leaders openly share information and encourage their collaborators to do the same; Avolio & Gardner,…”

“Kernis, M. H. (2003). Toward a conceptualization of optimal self-esteem. Psychological Inquiry, 14(1), 1-26. https://doi.org/10.1207/ S15327965PLI1401_01 Khokhar, A. M., NAS, Z., & Zia-ur-Rehman, M. (2020). Role of ethical leaders in creating ethical climate in public sector. Abasyn Journal of Social Sciences, 13(2),…”

“As Kernis (2003) pointed out, it is likely that a non-contingent or secure self-worth is the natural result of one’s satisfaction of basic psychological needs, regardless of culture.”

“…that external contingencies of self-worth are a source of psychological vulnerability because they are associated with self-esteem instability (Burhans & Dweck, 1995; Burwell & Shirk, 2006; Ching et al., 2021, 2021; Covington, 1984; Crocker et al., 2003; Kernis, 2003; Schone et al., 2015).”

“Kernis’ (2003) view of an authentic person is predicated on a more outward relational orientation and a valuing of the relationship above valuing the self.”

“Self-esteem, which refers to an individual’s overall emotional evaluation of his own value and importance, is related to the individual emotional experience.(9) Positive emotions have been found to promote the development of self-esteem, while negative emotions can weaken the level of self-esteem,(10) and emotional ex…”

“Although pride is central to self-esteem, nar-cissists are distinguished by having a fragile, defensive, and contingent self-esteem (Kernis, 2003), such that negative outcomes are minimized but still held internally, whereas positive outcomes are maximized and projected outwardly to serve a…”

“meaSureS State self-esteem This scale was drawn from Leary, Tambor, Terdal, and Downs (1995). It included 15 items rated on a 7-point scale (strongly disagree to strongly agree).”

“Implicit SE and explicit SE are considered to be relatively enduring characteristics, shaped by both positive and negative experiences [17] and [19].”

“…items (failure or rejection) than upward items (success or approval) (Vonk & Smit, 2012); (b) why the correlation between contingency and actual self-esteem instability is typically low (Kernis, 2003); and (c) why contingency is negatively correlated with self-esteem (in our Study 2, r = –.40).”

“Narcissists are characterized by inner fragility (Kernis, 2003; Westen, 1990).”

“CSE describes the extent to which one’s own selfesteem is dependent on external circumstances (Crocker & Wolfe, 2001; Kernis, 2003).”

“In addition to this intraindividual view of contingent self-esteem, interindividual perspectives have been presented (Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003), postulating rather stable individual differences in general contingent self-esteem.”

“According to Kernis (2003), authentic leaders are more likely to experience positive emo-”

“And as fol-lowers maintain honest and transparent relationship with their authentic leader, they are emotionally connected with their leader(Kernis, 2003).”

“For example, it can be strengthened through a preferably non-biased processing of self-relevant information from different sources such as self-observation or feedback from others (Gardner et al., 2005; Kernis, 2003).”

“Leader self-awareness refers to leaders’ knowledge of their own attributes, needs, motives, feelings, and values (Kernis, 2003), and awareness of how they influence others.”

“…measures may diverge from responses on implicit self-esteem measures (e.g., Hetts, Sakuma, & Pelham, 1999; Jordan, Spencer, Zanna, Hoshino-Browne, & Correll, 2003; Kernis, 2003), in Study 3 we examined the possible moderating effects of both explicit and implicit self-esteem on distancing.”

“, Rogers, 1959; Sullivan, 1953), contemporary research and theorizing suggests that self-esteem derived from some sources is more stable and secure than self-esteem derived from other sources (e.g., Deci & Ryan, 1995; Kernis, 2003).”

“There is an inverse relation, it would seem, between ego-involvement and secure self-esteem, or sense of selfworth (Kernis, 2003, 2005; and Kernis, Lakey, & Heppner, 2007, cited in Heppner & Kernis, 2007, p. 248).”

“Authentic leaders become self-aware through reflection, gaining clarity into their values, emotions, motives, goals, and identities (W. L. Gardner, Avolio, Luthans, May, & Walumba, 2005; Kernis, 2003; Luthans & Avolio, 2003).”

“…you bu ji and wu ji bi fan) (Cheung et al., 2003), when individuals extremely depend their self-esteem on power, they will be sensitive to small success/failure at having/losing power, which reflects unstable or fragile self-esteem (Kernis, 2003) and then shows negative effects on their well-being.”

“According to Kernis [42], self-esteem is thought to be a relatively enduring personal characteristic that incorporates both motivational and cognitive aspects.”

“In this respect Kernis (2003) proposed that “authenticity can be characterized as reflecting the unobstructed operation of one’s true, or core, self in one’s daily enterprise” (p. 13).”

“Hubungan yang tidak signifikan antara kepemimpinan otentik dan efikasi diri dijelaskan oleh Kernis (2003) kemungkinan karena penjelasan mengenai dimensi self awareness dari kepemimpinan otentik yang memahami bahwa seorang pemimpin otentik memahami tidak hanya kekuatan dan kelemahan diri sendiri.”

“It is relevant to note that the emerging literature on self-esteem (e.g., Kernis, 2003) suggests that unstable, high self-esteem may be associated with negative psychological outcomes.”

“Authenticity A modified version of Kernis and Goldman’s (2006) Authenticity Inventory utilized in Kraus, Chen, and Keltner’s study (2011) was employed to measure the level of feeling authentic in involvement in”

“Authenticity, as an individual trait variable, is largely rooted in positive self-esteem (Kernis, 2003; Kernis & Goldman, 2006) and refers to presenting and otherwise enacting one’s true self and behaving in ways such that one remains “true to the self” (e.g. Avolio et al., 2004).”