This paper intends to review critically the existing body of literature on Authentic Leadership theory. The field of Authentic Leadership, which appeared in the 1980s & emerged after the transformational leadership theory, has been established in the West (Northouse, 2016; Zhu et al., 2019). Authentic Leadership, however, has not yet seen its theoretical structure in the developed form but is still in the formative phase of development (Northouse, 2016). The purpose of this study is to clarify the theoretical characteristics of such Authentic Leadership, the current state of research, & problems. First, the theoretical characteristics of Authentic Leadership were examined based on previous studies such as behavioral theory & transformational leadership theory. Authentic Leadership is a leadership theory that explores the true self, rather than exploring what leadership styles can be used to achieve good results, as previous leadership research has been trying. Second, academic papers on Authentic Leadership conducted so far were reviewed to examine the current status & problems of the research. Finally, theoretical contributions & practical implications obtained from future research topics & literature reviews are described.
