Date

9-25-2025

Department

School of Behavioral Sciences

Degree

Doctor of Philosophy in Psychology (PhD)

Chair

Kathleen Andrews

Keywords

leader identity, leader efficacy, psychological well-being, autonomy, environmental mastery, purpose in life, personal growth, positive relations with others, self-acceptance, social cognitive theory, leader development

Disciplines

Psychology

Abstract

Contributing factors to a leader’s psychological well-being and their ability to be fully functional, mature, and self-actualized, are highly under-researched. This study examined the relationship of leader identity and leader efficacy on a leader’s psychological well-being. The study also explored whether a leader’s gender and leadership role level influenced their leader identity, efficacy, and psychological well-being. Participants were 165 working organizational leaders from a variety of industries, ages 19-72 years old with 1-40 years of leadership experience. Data was collected via online self-report survey using the Leader Self-Identity, Leader Efficacy Questionnaire, and Ryff’s Psychological Well-Being scales. Analyses revealed leader identity and leader efficacy positively predicted most dimensions of leader psychological well-being. However, leader identity negatively predicted autonomy and action efficacy negatively predicted personal growth. Gender and leadership level had no significant effect on leader identity, efficacy, or well-being, other than leader identity which was significantly higher in senior leaders than frontline leaders. The findings lend important advances to the body of knowledge on leader well-being, and insights for leader development. Future research could further explore self-regulatory efficacy development, developmental interventions for leader identity and efficacy, and replicate the study with a longer well-being measure and equal group sizes.

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