International Journal of Management & Entrepreneurship Research, Volume 5, Issue 1, January 2023 Aruoren & Tarurhor, P.No. 18-32 Page 18 INFLUENCE OF AUTHENTIC LEADERSHIP ON ORGANIZATIONAL TRUST: THE MEDIATORY ROLE OF ORGANIZATIONAL COMMITMENT Emmanuel Ejiroghene Aruoren (Ph.D) 1 , & Emmanuel Mitaire Tarurhor (Ph.D) 2 1 Senior Lecturer, Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria 2 Associate Professor, Department of Business Administration, Faculty of Management Sciences, Delta State University, Abraka, Nigeria ___________________________________________________________________________ Corresponding Author: Emmanuel Ejiroghene Aruoren Corresponding Author Email: tarurhor@gmail.com, metarurhor@delsu.edu.ng Article Received: 25-12-22 Accepted: 07-01-23 Published: 15-01-23 Licensing Details: Author retains the right of this article. The article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial 4.0 License (http://www.creativecommons.org/licences/by-nc/4.0/), which permits non-commercial use, reproduction and distribution of the work without further permission provided the original work is attributed as specified on the Journal open access page. ___________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT Prior studies indicate that a leaders’ authenticity has a positive effect on organizational trust (OT). However, the place of organizational commitment (OC) in this relationship has not been well established. This study assesses the role played by OC as a mediator on the nexus between authentic leadership (AL) and OT. Participants were drawn from Local Government Council employees in three states in Southern Nigeria. A structured questionnaire was administered to three hundred and twenty-eight respondents selected using a purposive sampling technique. Structural equation modeling results indicate that OT was positive and significantly related to AL and OC respectively. Also, AL was positive and significantly related to OC. Furthermore, OC partially mediates the relationship linking AL and OT. The study recommends that organizational leadership should develop a high level of trust and commitment among OPEN ACCESS International Journal of Management & Entrepreneurship Research P-ISSN: 2664-3588, E-ISSN: 2664-3596 Volume 5, Issue 1, P.No.18-32, January, 2023 DOI: 10.51594/ijmer.v5i1.432 Fair East Publishers Journal Homepage: www.fepbl.com/index.php/ijmer