Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteem
IntroductionWhile the concept of career calling has garnered attention for its role in inspiring employees’ sense of purpose and engagement, the literature on its developmental aspects, especially the influence of leadership styles, has not been fully paid attention to. Furthermore, the association...
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2025-03-01
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| Series: | Frontiers in Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1415426/full |
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| author | Guangya Ma Longmei Wang Siwei Sun Lei Lu |
| author_facet | Guangya Ma Longmei Wang Siwei Sun Lei Lu |
| author_sort | Guangya Ma |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | IntroductionWhile the concept of career calling has garnered attention for its role in inspiring employees’ sense of purpose and engagement, the literature on its developmental aspects, especially the influence of leadership styles, has not been fully paid attention to. Furthermore, the association between leadership styles and career calling still needs further exploration. Therefore, this study narrows this gap through testing the mediating role of belongingness in the relationship between inclusive leadership and career calling and its variation across different levels of organization-based self-esteem. Drawing upon the Need-to-Belong Theory, we propose a moderated mediation framework to elucidate the relationship and its variations between inclusive leadership and career calling among employees.MethodsData was collected from 337 employees across various industries in Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Beijing, China, using a two-wave lagged questionnaire. We used Inclusive Leadership-9, Belongingness-12, Organization-Based Self-Esteem-10 and Career Calling-12 measurement variables. Later, we used SPSS and PROCESS to verify five hypotheses.ResultsStatistical testing revealed that (1) there is a positive relationship between inclusive leadership and career calling. (2) Belongingness plays a mediating role in the relationship between inclusive leadership and career calling. (3) Organization-based self-esteem moderates the association between inclusive leadership and career calling, both directly and indirectly through belongingness.ConclusionThis study provides insights into the conversation about inclusive leadership and career calling, revealing a deeper understanding of the associations between leadership styles and employees’ vocational fulfillment, and suggesting practical implications for encouraging an inclusive work environment that supports career development. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-e8e16e3021324be09cccebb4ea478ac5 |
| institution | DOAJ |
| issn | 1664-1078 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-03-01 |
| publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Frontiers in Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-e8e16e3021324be09cccebb4ea478ac52025-08-20T02:50:48ZengFrontiers Media S.A.Frontiers in Psychology1664-10782025-03-011610.3389/fpsyg.2025.14154261415426Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteemGuangya Ma0Longmei Wang1Siwei Sun2Lei Lu3School of Foreign Studies, Yiwu Industrial and Commercial College, Jinhua, ChinaSchool of Economics and Management, Zhongshan Polytechnic, Zhongshan, ChinaDepartment of Management and International Business, Business School, The University of Auckland, Auckland, New ZealandSchool of Psychological and Cognitive Sciences, Beijing Key Laboratory of Behavior and Mental Health, Peking University, Beijing, ChinaIntroductionWhile the concept of career calling has garnered attention for its role in inspiring employees’ sense of purpose and engagement, the literature on its developmental aspects, especially the influence of leadership styles, has not been fully paid attention to. Furthermore, the association between leadership styles and career calling still needs further exploration. Therefore, this study narrows this gap through testing the mediating role of belongingness in the relationship between inclusive leadership and career calling and its variation across different levels of organization-based self-esteem. Drawing upon the Need-to-Belong Theory, we propose a moderated mediation framework to elucidate the relationship and its variations between inclusive leadership and career calling among employees.MethodsData was collected from 337 employees across various industries in Guangdong, Zhejiang, and Beijing, China, using a two-wave lagged questionnaire. We used Inclusive Leadership-9, Belongingness-12, Organization-Based Self-Esteem-10 and Career Calling-12 measurement variables. Later, we used SPSS and PROCESS to verify five hypotheses.ResultsStatistical testing revealed that (1) there is a positive relationship between inclusive leadership and career calling. (2) Belongingness plays a mediating role in the relationship between inclusive leadership and career calling. (3) Organization-based self-esteem moderates the association between inclusive leadership and career calling, both directly and indirectly through belongingness.ConclusionThis study provides insights into the conversation about inclusive leadership and career calling, revealing a deeper understanding of the associations between leadership styles and employees’ vocational fulfillment, and suggesting practical implications for encouraging an inclusive work environment that supports career development.https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1415426/fullinclusive leadershipcareer callingbelongingnessorganization-based self-esteemneed-to-belong theory |
| spellingShingle | Guangya Ma Longmei Wang Siwei Sun Lei Lu Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteem Frontiers in Psychology inclusive leadership career calling belongingness organization-based self-esteem need-to-belong theory |
| title | Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteem |
| title_full | Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteem |
| title_fullStr | Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteem |
| title_full_unstemmed | Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteem |
| title_short | Inclusive leadership and subordinates’ career calling: roles of belongingness and organization-based self-esteem |
| title_sort | inclusive leadership and subordinates career calling roles of belongingness and organization based self esteem |
| topic | inclusive leadership career calling belongingness organization-based self-esteem need-to-belong theory |
| url | https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1415426/full |
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