Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality

IntroductionPlatform leadership is a type of leadership characterized by building shared career platforms to foster the growth of subordinates, leaders and organizations. Despite its rising popularity, the implications of platform leadership, particularly its impact on employee outcomes, remain larg...

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Main Authors: Zheng Ji, Kaineng He, Jinyan Zhu, Miao He
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2025-05-01
Series:Frontiers in Psychology
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Online Access:https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552925/full
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author Zheng Ji
Kaineng He
Jinyan Zhu
Miao He
author_facet Zheng Ji
Kaineng He
Jinyan Zhu
Miao He
author_sort Zheng Ji
collection DOAJ
description IntroductionPlatform leadership is a type of leadership characterized by building shared career platforms to foster the growth of subordinates, leaders and organizations. Despite its rising popularity, the implications of platform leadership, particularly its impact on employee outcomes, remain largely unexplored. Based on self-determination theory, this paper discussed the mechanisms and boundary conditions of platform leadership on subordinates’ proactive career behavior.MethodsTo examine these effects, three-wave matched data were collected from 294 employees across diverse industries. The authors used hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses to test the hypotheses.ResultsThe results showed that platform leadership promoted subordinates’ proactive career behavior. Thriving at work mediated this relationship. Additionally, higher subordinates’ career centrality strengthened the role of platform leadership in promoting thriving at work, and also enhanced the indirect effect of thriving at work between platform leadership and proactive career behavior.DiscussionOur study makes three key contributions to the platform leadership and career development literature. First, it is the first to investigate the mechanism and boundary conditions linking platform leadership to proactive career behavior. Second, the results offer actionable insights for leadership training and development programs. Finally, this research highlights the critical role of platform leadership in enhancing employees’ perceptions of career platform value, thereby fostering long-term organizational growth through sustained proactive engagement.
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institution Kabale University
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spelling doaj-art-d1d3757bba584e6a81b5aa3e5f08fa862025-08-20T03:47:27ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-05-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.15529251552925Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centralityZheng JiKaineng HeJinyan ZhuMiao HeIntroductionPlatform leadership is a type of leadership characterized by building shared career platforms to foster the growth of subordinates, leaders and organizations. Despite its rising popularity, the implications of platform leadership, particularly its impact on employee outcomes, remain largely unexplored. Based on self-determination theory, this paper discussed the mechanisms and boundary conditions of platform leadership on subordinates’ proactive career behavior.MethodsTo examine these effects, three-wave matched data were collected from 294 employees across diverse industries. The authors used hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses to test the hypotheses.ResultsThe results showed that platform leadership promoted subordinates’ proactive career behavior. Thriving at work mediated this relationship. Additionally, higher subordinates’ career centrality strengthened the role of platform leadership in promoting thriving at work, and also enhanced the indirect effect of thriving at work between platform leadership and proactive career behavior.DiscussionOur study makes three key contributions to the platform leadership and career development literature. First, it is the first to investigate the mechanism and boundary conditions linking platform leadership to proactive career behavior. Second, the results offer actionable insights for leadership training and development programs. Finally, this research highlights the critical role of platform leadership in enhancing employees’ perceptions of career platform value, thereby fostering long-term organizational growth through sustained proactive engagement.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552925/fullplatform leadershipproactive career behaviorthriving at workcareer centralityself-determination theory
spellingShingle Zheng Ji
Kaineng He
Jinyan Zhu
Miao He
Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality
Frontiers in Psychology
platform leadership
proactive career behavior
thriving at work
career centrality
self-determination theory
title Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality
title_full Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality
title_fullStr Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality
title_full_unstemmed Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality
title_short Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality
title_sort platform leadership and subordinates proactive career behavior the role of thriving at work and career centrality
topic platform leadership
proactive career behavior
thriving at work
career centrality
self-determination theory
url https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552925/full
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AT jinyanzhu platformleadershipandsubordinatesproactivecareerbehaviortheroleofthrivingatworkandcareercentrality
AT miaohe platformleadershipandsubordinatesproactivecareerbehaviortheroleofthrivingatworkandcareercentrality