2026-10-12T21:33:12Z https://www.scidb.cn/oai

10.57760/sciencedb.psych.01131 2026-08-04T12:56:35Z

2026-08-04 Not all claiming can be granted: A field experiment examining the curvilinear effect of motivation to lead on peer leadership endorsement doi:10.57760/sciencedb.psych.01131 en Given the potential significance of the motivation to lead in answering the question of who will be most highly endorsed for leadership positions, the motivation to lead has garnered considerable attention. Nevertheless, we put forward a distinct perspective on the influence of motivation to lead on leadership endorsement. Based on the theory of leadership identity construction, we developed and tested a model considering a potential curvilinear relationship between individual motivation to lead and peer leadership endorsement while also examining the mediating role of peer liking. We conducted a field experiment involving 319 employees in China. A between-subjects design was used in which participants were randomly assigned to one of three conditions (low vs. med vs. high motivation to lead). The results indicated that individual motivation to lead has an inverted U-shaped relationship with peer leadership endorsement. Also, peer liking serves as a mediator in connecting individual motivation to lead and peer leadership endorsement. These results underscore the importance of comprehending the level of leadership motivation that can promote or prevent leadership endorsement within work teams. motivation to lead; leadership endorsement; peer liking; nonlinear relationship 程进凯 RESTRICTED dataset Science Data Bank