Worries about leadership: Examining the role of career stage, gender, and personal resources

Abstract

AbstractWorries about leadership (WAL) play a key role in explaining why so many individuals are not interested in pursuing leadership positions. However, less is known about how WAL evolves throughout one's career. We address this issue by examining individuals' worries about failure (WF) and worries about work–life imbalance (WWLI)—two dimensions of WAL—at different career stages and the role of perceived lack of personal resources relevant for leadership in increasing WAL. Moreover, we explore the moderating effect of gender on the relationship among career stage, personal resources, and WAL. Using a heterogeneous sample of professionals from different hierarchical levels (n = 487), our results show a decline in WF as individuals advance in their careers, whereas WWLI remains consistently higher. Importantly, WWLI becomes remarkably high for women in mid‐to‐late career stages compared to men. Furthermore, having fewer personal resources is associated with greater WAL, particularly affecting women.