What does it mean to be 'authentic' at work? In Western, individualist societies we tend to believe that a really authentic person will 'be themselves' no matter what's going on around them. But we also know that different situations or roles can make distinct demands on us and maybe even allow different sides of our personality to emerge.
In fact, authenticity could be better described as the extent to which we feel we are being true to ourselves, even if we act quite differently in different situations. In my recent paper, I've explored how these two different concepts - consistency and authenticity - affect our well-being. Using a combination of questionnaires which people completed at work and at home, as well as diary entries over 6 weeks, I found some fascinating results.
First, feeling authentic and behaving consistently are not the same thing. Authenticity is about acting in line with our personal values rather than behaving consistently across situations. While some people may behave very consistently across work and home roles and feel authentic in both, others may may behave quite differently in the two roles and yet still feel authentic.
Second, we change our behaviour to suit a role or even behave inauthentically for very functional reasons, such as to keep a job or avoid conflict with the boss. But while inconsistent behaviour does not affect our well-being, having to behave inauthentically does. Overall, I found that people who feel authentic, regardless of how differently they behave in work and home roles, are less stressed and more satisfied. So if we're trying to improve well-being at work, we need to find ways to allow people to meet the requirements of the role in a way that feels true to self.