International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management
Quarterly Publication

Exploring the pathways to career success: Analyzing the influence of empowering leadership, self-efficacy, and organizational commitment

https://doi.org/10.22034/IJHCUM.2026.01.04
Volume 11, Issue 1 - Serial Number 41
Winter 2026
Pages 51-64
International Journal of Human Capital in Urban Management

Document Type : ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Authors

I. N. Qamari 1
U. Udin 1
I. B. A. G Azmi 2
S. H. Wahyuningsih 1
W. P. Sari 1
M. Musoli 3

1 Department of Management, University of Muhammadiyah Yogyakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

2 Department of Syariah and Management, Academy of Islamic Studies, University Malaya, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

3 Department of Management, University of Aisyiyah Yogyakarta, Special Region of Yogyakarta, Indonesia

Abstract
BACKGROUND AND OBJECTIVES: Empowering leadership is essential for employee career success as it encourages skill development and facilitates career advancement. The absence of empowering leadership may significantly hinder employee career success within organizations. Thus, this study investigates the potential mediator roles of organizational commitment, self-efficacy, and competence for performance in the relationship between empowering leadership and career success.
METHODS: By employing a quantitative approach, this study examines the proposed model and hypotheses in the coal mining companies in Indonesia. The data are collected from 123 employees working in the coal mining operations in Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, and it is analyzed using SmartPLS 3.3.3 of partial least squares structural equation modeling.
FINDINGS: The results showed that empowering leadership positively and significantly predicts organizational commitment (β = 0.706, t-statistic = 20.182), self-efficacy (β = 0.478, t-statistic = 5.308), performance competence (β = 0.593, t-statistic = 10.561), and career success (β = 0.387, t-statistic = 3.301). However, self-efficacy (β = 0.124, t-statistic = 1.068) and performance competence (β = -0.009, t-statistic = 0.097) have no impact on career success. Organizational commitment (β = 0.253, t-statistic = 4.218) is also discovered to mediate the relationship between empowering leadership and career success.
CONCLUSION: Empowering leadership plays a crucial role in guiding employees toward career success by fostering a strong sense of organizational commitment. This study explores the mediating roles of organizational commitment, self-efficacy, and performance competence, offering insights into how empowering leadership influences career outcomes. The findings advance existing theory by clarifying that while self-efficacy and performance competence are shaped by empowering leadership, they do not directly predict career success. Instead, organizational commitment emerges as the key mediator in this relationship. From a practical perspective, the results highlight the need for organizations to promote empowering leadership by training supervisors to build autonomy and trust. This leadership approach enhances employees’ emotional attachment to the organization, thereby supporting their career development. Aligning career advancement initiatives with empowering practices can enhance employee motivation and long-term success.

Keywords

Career success
Empowering leadership
Organizational commitment
Partial Least Squares Structural Equation Modeling
Performance competence
Self-efficacy
Subjects

OPEN ACCESS

©2026 The author(s). This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third-party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit: 

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ 

PUBLISHER NOTE
Tehran Urban Research & Planning Centre (TURPC) takes a neutral position about claims on disputed territories, place names, international boundaries, jurisdiction in published maps, and institutional affiliations. TURPC is committed to retracting a paper after its publication if it becomes apparent that there are serious problems in its content, in terms of research and publication ethics (https://www.ijhcum.net/journal/process?ethics).

CITATION METRICS & CAPTURES

Google Scholar | DOAJ | Scopus | EBSCO | Internet Archive |Twitter |Mendeley  

CURRENT PUBLISHER

 Tehran Urban Research and Planning Center: Tehran Municipality

 

Ahmad, B.; Nasir, N., (2023). Positive career shocks and career optimism: testing the mediating role of career decision-making self-efficacy. J. Asian Bus. Econ. Stud., 30(2): 105-125 (21 pages).
Ahmad, M.K.; Abdulhamid, A.B.; Wahab, S.A.; Pervaiz, A.N.; Imtiaz, M., (2022). Direct and indirect influence of project managers’ contingent reward leadership and empowering leadership on project success. Int. J. Eng. Bus. Manage., 14: 18479790211073443 (15 pages).
Ahmed, T.; Chaojun, Y.; Hongjuan, Y.; Mahmood, S., (2022). The Impact of Empowering Leadership on Job Performance of Higher Education Institutions Employees: Mediating Role of Goal Clarity and Self-Efficacy. Psychol. Res. Behav. Manage., 15: 677-694 (18 pages).
Allen, N. J.; Meyer, J.P., (1993). Organizational commitment: Evidence of career stage effects? J. Bus. Res., 26(1): 49-61 (13 pages).
Almusaddar, A.A.; Ramzan, S.R.; Raju, V., (2018). The influence of knowledge, satisfaction, and motivation on employee performance through competence. Int. J. Bus. Gen. Manage., 7(5): 21-40 (20 pages).
Amundsen, S.; Martinsen, Ø.L., (2015). Linking Empowering Leadership to Job Satisfaction, Work Effort, and Creativity: The Role of Self-Leadership and Psychological Empowerment. J. Leadersh. Organ. Stud., 22(3): 304-323 (20 pages).
Arifin, A.H.; Raza, H.; Saputra, J.; Puteh, A., (2020). The influence of recruitment and career development towards employee performance: A mediating role of competence. J. Talent Dev. Excellence, 12(1): 1040-1055 (16 pages).
Arnold, J.A.; Arad, S.; Rhoades, J.A.; Drasgow, F., (2000). The empowering leadership questionnaire: the construction and validation of a new scale for measuring leader behaviors. J. Organ. Behav., 21(3): 249-269 (21 pages).
Ashfaq, F.; Abid, G.; Ilyas, S., (2021). Impact of Ethical Leadership on Employee Engagement: Role of Self-Efficacy and Organizational Commitment. European J. Invest. Health, Psychol. Educ., 11(3): 962-974 (13 pages). 
Aymans, S.C.; Kortsch, T.; Kauffeld, S., (2020). Gender and career optimism—The effects of gender-specific perceptions of lecturer support, career barriers and self-efficacy on career optimism. Higher Educ. Q., 74(3): 273-289 (17 pages).
Bandura, A., (1986). Social Foundations of Thought and Action: A Social Cognitive Theory, Englewood Cliffs, Prentice Hall.
Betanzos-Díaz, N.; Rodríguez-Loredo, C.S.; Paz-Rodríguez, F., (2017). Development and validation of a questionnaire on normative organizational commitment: A pilot study in Mexicans workers. An. Psicol., 33(2): 393-402 (10 pages).
Bhawna.; Sharma, S.K.; Akram, U., (2024). Assessing subjective career success: the role of career commitment, career resilience and self-efficacy: a evidence from hospitality industry. Int. J. Qual. Serv. Sci., 16(1): 44-62 (19 pages).
Biemann, T.; Kearney, E.; Marggraf, K., (2015). Empowering leadership and managers' career perceptions: Examining effects at both the individual and the team level. Leadersh. Q., 26(5): 775-789 (15 pages).
Binh, Q.; Nguyen, C., (2020). Factors affecting career success: The case of graduate students. Manage. Sci. Lett., 10(13): 3151-3158 (8 pages).
Blokker, R.; Akkermans, J.; Tims, M.; Jansen, P.; Khapova, S., (2019). Building a sustainable start: The role of career competencies, career success, and career shocks in young professionals' employability. J. Vocational Behav., 112: 172-184 (13 pages).
Briscoe, J.P.; Hall, D.T.; DeMuth, R.L.F., (2006). Protean and boundaryless careers: An empirical exploration. J. Vocational Behav., 69(1): 30-47 (18 pages).
Cai, D.; Cai, Y.; Sun, Y.; Ma, J., (2018). Linking Empowering Leadership and Employee Work Engagement: The Effects of Person-Job Fit, Person-Group Fit, and Proactive Personality. Front. Psychol., 9: 1304 (12 pages).
Cheong, M.; Spain, S.M.; Yammarino, F.J.; Yun, S., (2016). Two faces of empowering leadership: Enabling and burdening. Leadersh. Q., 27(4): 602-616 (15 pages).
Choi, W.S.; Kang, S.W.; Choi, S.B., (2021). Innovative Behavior in the Workplace: An Empirical Study of Moderated Mediation Model of Self-Efficacy, Perceived Organizational Support, and Leader–Member Exchange. Behav. Sci., 11(12): 182 (17 pages).
Chui, H.; Li, H.; Ngo, H.Y., (2020). Linking Protean Career Orientation with Career Optimism: Career Adaptability and Career Decision Self-Efficacy as Mediators. J. Career Dev., 49(1): 161-173 (13 pages).
De Vos, A.; De Hauw, S.; Van der Heijden, B.I.J.M., (2011). Competency development and career success: The mediating role of employability. J. Vocational Behav., 79(2): 438-447 (10 pages).
Djastuti, I.; Rahardjo, S.T.; Irviana, L.; Udin, U., (2019). Fun at work and employee performance: the roles of job satisfaction and organizational commitment in manufacturing companies. WSEAS Trans. Bus. Econ., 16: 153-162 (10 pages).
Domingo, J.G.; Mina, J.C.; Campos, R., (2024). The relationship between self-efficacy, attitudes, and business students' quantitative skills performance: A case for including quantitative methods in the BSBA curriculum. Int. J. Adv. Appl. Sci., 11(12): 108-115 (8 pages).
Dwidienawati, D.; Ratnasari, E.D.; Nugraha, I.O.; Maharani, A.; Arsan, M.F., (2025). The Influence of Well-being, Empowering Leadership, and Career Development on Work Engagement in Generation Z in Indonesia. WSEAS Trans. Bus. Econ., 22: 32-47 (12 pages).
Eenink, L., (2022). Will empowering leadership make a career more sustainable? Applying a paradox perspective towards the conflicting mechanisms of self-efficacy and work-related stress. (Master Business Administration), Radboud University Nijmegen, Netherland.
Eliyana, A.; Jalil, N.I.A.; Gunawan, D.R.; Pratama, A.S., (2025). Mediating role of engagement and commitment to bridge empowering leadership and task performance. Kybernetes, 54(3): 1447-1469 (23 pages).
Eva, N.; Newman, A.; Jiang, Z.; Brouwer, M., (2020). Career optimism: A systematic review and agenda for future research. J. Vocational Behav., 116: 103287 (x pages).
Fikri, K.; Haryadi.; Edward.; Setiawati, R., (2023). The Influence Of Empowering Leadership And Professionalism On Lecturer Performance With Motivation As A Moderating Variables. Qual. Access Success, 24(196): 175-182 (8 pages).
Fornell, C.; Larcker, D.F., (1981). Structural Equation Models with Unobservable Variables and Measurement Error: Algebra and Statistics. J. Mark. Res., 18(3): 382-388 (7 pages).
Garcia-Perez, A.; Cegarra-Navarro, J.G.; Bedford, D.; Thomas, M.; Wakabayashi, S., (2019). Revisiting Competence and Competencies Critical Capabilities and Competencies for Knowledge Organizations (pp. 115-136): Emerald Publishing Limited.
Gohar, M.; Mehmood, A.; Nazir, S.; Abrar, A.; Iqbal, Y.M.J., (2023). Situationally Appropriate Leadership Styles and Team Performance: Is Trust Really Important. FWU J. Social Sci., 17(3): 136-151 (16 pages).
Gunarto, M.; Cahyawati, D.; Yanti, P., (2025). The impact of self-efficacy on service quality in private universities: The mediating role of organizational citizenship behavior. Int. J. Adv. Appl. Sci., 12(1): 19-29 (11 pages).
Guo, Y.; Peng, Y.; Zhu, Y., (2023). How does empowering leadership motivate employee innovative behavior: A job characteristics perspective. Curr. Psychol., 42(21): 18280-18290 (11 pages).
Hair, J.F.; Hult, G.T.M.; Ringle, C.M.; Sarstedt, M., (2017). A primer on partial least squares structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM). United States of America: SAGE Publications.
Hair, J..F.; Sarstedt, M.; Matthews, L.M.; Ringle, C.M., (2016). Identifying and treating unobserved heterogeneity with FIMIX-PLS: part I – method. European Bus. Rev., 28(1): 63-76 (14 pages).
Haratsis, J.M.; Hood, M.; Creed, P.A., (2015). Career Goals in Young Adults: Personal Resources, Goal Appraisals, Attitudes, and Goal Management Strategies. J. Career Dev., 42(5): 431-445 (15 pages).
Hassona, F.M.; Albaqawi, H.; Laput, V., (2021). Effect of Saudi nurses’ perceived work-life quality on work engagement and organizational commitment. Int. J. Adv. Appl. Sci., 8(6): 79-87 (9 pages).
Henseler, J.; Ringle, C.M.; Sarstedt, M., (2015). A new criterion for assessing discriminant validity in variance-based structural equation modeling. J. Acad. Mark. Sci., 43(1): 115-135 (21 pages).
Joo, B.K.; Yoon, S.K.; Galbraith, D., (2023). The effects of organizational trust and empowering leadership on group conflict: psychological safety as a mediator. Organ. Manage. J., 20(1): 4-16 (13 pages).
Khatoon, A.; Rehman, S.U.; Islam, T.; Ashraf, Y., (2024). Knowledge sharing through empowering leadership: the roles of psychological empowerment and learning goal orientation. Global Knowledge Mem. Commun., 73(4/5): 682-697 (16 pages).
Kim, J.; Cho, J.; Lee, S., (2020). The Influence of Entrepreneurial Competences on Corporate Performance of Technology-based Start-ups. J. Soc. Korea Ind. Syst. Eng., 43(1): 132-142 (11 pages).
Kim, M.; Beehr, T.A., (2018). Can Empowering Leaders Affect Subordinates’ Well-Being and Careers Because They Encourage Subordinates’ Job Crafting Behaviors? J. Leadersh. Organ. Stud., 25(2): 184-196 (13 pages).
Kim, M.; Beehr, T.A., (2023). Empowering leadership improves employees’ positive psychological states to result in more favorable behaviors. Int. J. Hum. Resour. Manage., 34(10): 2002-2038 (38 pages).
Kock, N., (2015). Common method bias in PLS-SEM: A full collinearity assessment approach. Int. J. e-Collab., 11(4): 1-10 (10 pages).
Kundi, Y.M.; Hollet-Haudebert, S.; Peterson, J., (2021). Linking Protean and Boundaryless Career Attitudes to Subjective Career Success: A Serial Mediation Model. J. Career Assess., 29(2): 263-282 (20 pages).
Lee, J.; Lee, H.; Park, J.G., (2014). Exploring the impact of empowering leadership on knowledge sharing, absorptive capacity and team performance in IT service. Inf. Technol. People, 27(3): 366-386 (21 pages).
Lei, C.; Hossain, M.S.; Mostafiz, M.I.; Khalifa, G.S.A., (2021). Factors determining employee career success in the Chinese hotel industry: A perspective of Job-Demand Resources theory. J. Hospitality Tourism Manage., 48: 301-311 (11 pages).
Lin, M.; Zhang, X.; Ng, B.C.S.; Zhong, L., (2020). To Empower or Not to Empower? Multilevel Effects of Empowering Leadership on Knowledge Hiding. Int. J. Hospitality Manage., 89: 102540 (x pages).
Liu, S.; Han, X.; Du, L.; Zhu, H.; Shi, R.; Lan, J., (2024). How Does Empowering Leadership Relate to Work Engagement? The Roles of Organisational Identification and Workplace Well-Being. Psychol. Rep., 1-26 (26 pages).
Martono, S.; Khoiruddin, M.; Wijayanto, A.; Ridloah, S.; Wulansari, N.A.; Udin, U., (2020). Increasing teamwork, organizational commitment and effectiveness through the implementation of collaborative resolution. J. Asian Finance, Econ. Bus., 7(6): 427-437 (11 pages).
Memon, M.A.; Ting, H.; Ramayah, T.; Chuah, F.; Cheah, J.H., (2017). A review of the methodological misconceptions and guidelines related to the application of structural equation modelling: a Malaysian scenario. J. Appl. Struct. Equation Model., 1(1): 1-13 (13 pages).
Morandi, F.; Leonelli, S.; Di Vincenzo, F., (2022). Exploration of the mediating role of physicians’ managerial attitude in the relationship between their self-efficacy and workplace performance. J. Health Organ. Manage., 36(7): 950-964 (15 pages).
Mutonyi, B.R.; Slåtten, T.; Lien, G., (2020). Empowering leadership, work group cohesiveness, individual learning orientation and individual innovative behaviour in the public sector: empirical evidence from Norway. Int. J. Public Leadersh., 16(2): 175-197 (23 pages).
Novelya, S.; Karuehni, I., (2023). The Effect of Competence and Work Experience on Career Development Through Work Achievement as an Intervening Variable. J. Manage. Sci. Organ., 4(2): 155-165 (11 pages).
Peng, M.Y.P.; Liang, Z.; Fatima, I.; Wang, Q.; Rasheed, M.I., (2024). The nexus between empowering leadership, job engagement and employee creativity: role of creative self-efficacy in the hospitality industry. Kybernetes, 53(10): 3189-3210 (22 pages).
Penn, L.T.; Lent, R.W., (2018). The Joint Roles of Career Decision Self-Efficacy and Personality Traits in the Prediction of Career Decidedness and Decisional Difficulty. J. Career Assess., 27(3): 457-470 (14 pages).
Peralta, A.; Carrillo-Hermosilla, J.; Crecente, F., (2019). Sustainable business model innovation and acceptance of its practices among Spanish entrepreneurs. Corporate Social Responsibility Environ. Manage., 26(5): 1119-1134 (16 pages).
Porter, C.M.; Woo, S.E.; Alonso, N.; Snyder, G., (2023). Why do people network? Professional networking motives and their implications for networking behaviors and career success. J. Vocational Behav., 142: 103856 (57 pages).
Rai, A.; Kim, M., (2021). Empowering leadership and followers' good and bad behaviors: A dual mediation model. Hum. Resour. Dev. Q., 32(4): 537-558 (22 pages).
Rawashdeh, A.M.; Elayan, M.B.; Shamout, M.D.; Hamouche, S., (2022). Human resource development and turnover intention: organizational commitment's role as a mediating variable. European J. Manage. Bus. Econ., 31(4): 469-484 (16 pages).
Raziq, M.M.; Wazir, R.; Memon, M.A.; Rice, J.L.; Moazzam, M., (2025). Empowering leadership, employee organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior: the roles of leader authenticity and trust. Int. J. Prod. Perform. Manage., 74(1): 81-106 (26 pages).
Rowley, J., (2014). Designing and using research questionnaires. Manage. Res. Rev., 37(3): 308-330 (23 pages).
Santilli, S.; Marcionetti, J.; Rochat, S.; Rossier, J.; Nota, L., (2016). Career Adaptability, Hope, Optimism, and Life Satisfaction in Italian and Swiss Adolescents. J. Career Dev., 44(1): 62-76 (15 pages).
Sarstedt, M.; Bengart, P.; Shaltoni, A.M.; Lehmann, S., (2018). The use of sampling methods in advertising research: a gap between theory and practice. Int. J. Advertising, 37(4): 650-663 (14 pages).
Semlali, Y.; Elrayah, M., (2022). The Organizational Commitment of Public Administrative Leaders and Their Subjective Career Success: Case of the Saudi Irrigation Organization. Adm. Sci., 12(4): 125 (9 pages).
Shahab, M.A.; Sobari, A.; Udin, U., (2018). Empowering leadership and organizational citizenship behavior: The mediating roles of psychological empowerment and emotional intelligence in medical service industry. Int. J. Econ. Bus. Adm., 6(3): 80-91 (12 pages).
Spencer, L.M.; Spencer, P.S.M., (2008). Competence at Work models for superior performance, John Wiley & Sons.
Syahrul, K., (2020). The effect of empowering leadership on intrinsic motivation: the role of psychological empowerment as a mediation. J. Leadersh. Organ., 2(2): 108-120 (13 pages).
Udin, U.; Dananjoyo, R., (2023). Prophetic Leadership: Lessons from the Greatest Leader of Prophet Muhammad. FWU J. Social Sci., 17(4): 88-97 (10 pages).
Udin, U.; Dananjoyo, R.; Shaikh, M.; Vio Linarta, D., (2022). Islamic Work Ethics, Affective Commitment, and Employee’s Performance in Family Business: Testing Their Relationships. SAGE Open, 12(1): 21582440221085263 (12 pages).
Udin, U.; Fitriani, K.; Dananjoyo, R., (2025). Linking empowering leadership and work environment with employee performance: The mediating role of job stress. Work: 10519815241311163 (10 pages).
Udin, U.; Sukirno, R.L.S.; Dananjoyo, R., (2023). The Impact of Work-Life Balance on Employee Performance: Examining the Mediating-Moderating Role of Job Satisfaction and Affective Commitment. FWU J. Social Sci., 17(3): 74-85 (12 pages).
Weer, C.H.; Greenhaus, J.H., (2020). Managers’ Assessments of Employees’ Organizational Career Growth Opportunities: The Role of Extra-Role Performance, Work Engagement, and Perceived Organizational Commitment. J. Career Dev., 47(3): 280-295 (16 pages).
Widianto, S., (2021). Empowering leadership to performance excellence: The role of knowledge sharing and self-efficacy. Int. J. Bus. Excellence, 23(3): 297-311 (15 pages).
Windayati, D.T.; Malik, N., (2023). Career Success Perception, Is that Important? J. Career Entrepreneurship, 2(1): 36-48 (13 pages).
Wong, S.C., (2020). Competency definitions, development and assessment: A brief review. Int. J. Acad. Res. Progressive Educ. Dev., 9(3): 95-114 (20 pages).
Yulia, E.; Safaatillah, N., (2023). Empowering Leadership In Employee Career Establishment (Case Study in East Java Banking). Al-fikrah: J. Manage. Educ., 11(1): 100-109 (10 pages).
Zaenudin, P.; Widigdo, A.M.N., (2022). The Effect of Independence and Competence on Performance of Employees with Integrity as Moderation (Case Study on the Corruption Eradication Commission in Indonesia). European J. Bus. Manage. Res., 7(2): 28-36 (9 pages).
Zhang, L.; Jin, T., (2019). Linking empowering leadership and career calling: The mediating role of psychological need fulfilment. J. Psychol. Africa, 29(5): 429-434 (6 pages).
Zhao, X.; Lynch, J.G.; Chen, Q., (2010). Reconsidering Baron and Kenny: Myths and Truths about Mediation Analysis. J. Consum. Res., 37(2): 197-206 (10 pages).
 
  • Receive Date 19 February 2025
  • Revise Date 13 May 2025
  • Accept Date 02 July 2025

Home

Authorship

Submit Manuscript

Indexing and Abstracting

Editorial Board

Unrestricted Reuse in Compliance with BOAI

Open Access Policy

Self-Archiving Policy

Privacy Statement

Publisher Business Model

Publisher and Sponsor

Contact Us