The Role of Personality and Positive Psychological Capital in Business Students’ Motivation to Lead

Given the strong focus of both organizations and institutions of higher education on leadership development, understanding antecedents to leadership motivation is a topic of great interest. This pre- registered study set out to investigate personality factors as antecedents to motivation to lead (MTL) and positive psychological capital (PsyCap). Additionally, the framework was expanded by integrating PsyCap as a predictor of MTL and mediator between personality and MTL. 258 business students served as a convenience sample for the cross-sectional study. The online survey included measures of the Big Five personality factors, PsyCap, and MTL. Several multiple regression and mediation analyses were conducted. The findings supported the proposed role of Openness, Conscientiousness, Extraversion, and Neuroticism as antecedents to PsyCap. Additionally, Extraversion, Agreeableness, and PsyCap were identified as predictors of affective-identity MTL and PsyCap was found to predict socio-normative MTL. The mediation hypotheses were partially supported. The results imply that developing students’ PsyCap can potentially benefit their leadership motivation and help preparing them for future careers through making beneficial first leadership experiences in academic settings. As limitations are discussed, further research specifically investigating the role of cultural values is encouraged