ANDREW MURIUNGI RINGERA2026-06-022024-10https://repository.mua.ac.ke/handle/123456789/2245The ability to delegate effectively, articulate a vision that inspires positive change, and cultivate employee confidence are critical characteristics of an effective leader. This study aimed to investigate authentic leadership and organizational performance within Kenya's public sector, focusing on the National Treasury as a case study. The operations of the National Treasury are becoming increasingly intricate, leading to a growing ambiguity in distinguishing acceptable practices from unacceptable ones. Tools such as the authentic leadership inventory and the authentic leadership questionnaire can be employed to evaluate authentic leadership, enabling followers to assess their leaders' perspectives and authenticity. The theoretical framework for this research included goal-setting theory, adaptive leadership theory, and authentic leadership theory as the anchor theory. A descriptive research design was adopted for this research work, targeting a population of 300 employees, from which a random sample of 171 was selected. Questionnaires were adopted as the primary tool for data collection. A pilot study was conducted with ten randomly chosen employees from the target population, who were not included in the final analysis. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS Version 27. Before drawing broad conclusions, the uncoded raw data collected from the field were examined, and results were presented in tabular form. The relationships between variables were illustrated using inferential statistics. The study found that relational transparency significantly influences organizational performance, concluding that it is a key predictor of performance. Additionally, the results indicated that internalized morals significantly affect organizational performance, with a notable influence on the performance of the National Treasury at a rate of 0.645. Furthermore, the research findings indicate that self-awareness is crucial in enhancing organizational performance, with a notable correlation of 0.588. Additionally, the study highlights that balanced processing significantly influences organizational performance, demonstrating a positive effect on the National Treasury's performance at a rate of 0.609 for each unit change in balanced processing. Various organizational factors, such as relational transparency, internalized morals, self-awareness, and balanced processing, were found to impact the performance of the National Treasury significantly. The analysis reveals that internalized morals emerged as the most influential predictor of performance, followed by balanced processing, self-awareness, and relational transparency, which had the least impact on authentic leadership. The research study offers several recommendations for enhancing the performance of the National Treasury and similar organizations. To leverage the benefits of relational transparency, managers at the National Treasury need to maintain consistency in their objectives, motivations, and values, while also being open in their communications with staff. This approach will foster trust and intimacy through self-disclosure, ultimately enhancing teamwork and collaboration, which will lead to improved performance. Furthermore, the National Treasury should prioritize self-awareness as a key element of effective leadership. Management should actively encourage self-awareness to cultivate strong, positive relationships between leaders and employees. To facilitate the development of self-awareness behaviors, the National Treasury's executives must create a supportive organizational environment. Additionally, the organization should promote balanced processing behaviors and take into account all relevant components, including personal information, subjective experiences, and externally sourced data. Given the study's findings, recommendations for improvement, and five-year follow-up, the National Treasury must conduct a study on authentic leadership and organizational performance. The goal of the study should be to validate the existing study's findings and offer further insights into them.Thesis