Leadership Self-Views, Employability, and Career Success

This thesis examines how leadership self-views - leader identity and leader self-efficacy - influence career outcomes among Chinese mid-career MBA participants and alumni through three independent studies. Using a cross-sectional design in Study 1 (N = 182), it was found that both self-views are positively and significantly associated with career outcomes, with leader self-efficacy showing stronger effects (R² up to 28%). Employability fully mediates leader identity's effects and partially mediates leader self-efficacy's effects. Study 2 (N = 121) adopted a time-lagged design with leader identity and leader self-efficacy measured twice before and six months after the MBA education. Leader identity increased by 14.3 % and leader self-efficacy by 5.6 %. Cross-lagged SEM analyses showed that leader identity was stable and increased subsequent self-efficacy, whereas self-efficacy exhibited weaker stability. At Time 2, both leadership self-view constructs are positively related to the both career outcomes via employability. Study 3 (N = 81) again uses a cross-sectional design with alumni participants. The findings replicated the patterns and showed full mediation for both leadership self-views. Moderation evidence varied considerably across the three studies. The moderation effects of motivation to lead (both aggregate and subscales) and gender are tested in all three studies, showing mixed results. For job tenure and work centrality, that are tested only in Study 3, job tenure was found to strengthen the self-efficacy path only, while work centrality does not show any statistically significant moderation effect. Collectively, the findings establish self-perceived employability as an important mediating mechanism linking leadership self-views to positive career development outcomes. The results also point to MBA programs as effective identity workspaces. The study informs the design of leadership developmental interventions that simultaneously build leader identity, leader self-efficacy, and employability to enhance mid-career professionals’ satisfaction and success in both educational and organizational contexts.