Are All High-Potentials Successful Leaders? Exploring the Underlying Effect of Impostor Syndrome and Evaluative Concerns on the Relationship Between HiPo Designation and Leadership Self-Efficacy

The rising prevalence of high-potential (HiPo) employee programs in organizations has led academicians to begin to research this newly developing area under the realm of industrial/organizational psychology. High-potential programs are intended to find employees with the maximum potential to succeed in strategic leadership roles within the organization and provide those individuals with specialized training and related developmental opportunities. The term “HiPo” refers to such employees who are designated as having higher potential than the average. This study aimed to explore the relationship that exists between employees being designated as HiPo and their self-perception of being successful leaders (measured as leadership self-efficacy) with the additional goal of investigating whether the individual differences of impostor syndrome and evaluative concerns among employees affects how they react to HiPo designation. Data for the purposes of the study was collected using an online survey circulated on social media among people (working part-time or full-time) and from upper-level psychology students. Contrary to our expectations, the results did not support the prediction of a significant positive relationship between HiPo designation and leadership self-efficacy (LSE). Furthermore, although there was a moderating influence of impostor syndrome and evaluative concerns on the relationship between HiPo designation and LSE, that pattern of that effect was opposite of our expectations. Based on the findings of this study, recommendations for organizational leaders and future researchers were made. HIPO DESIGNATION AND LEADER SUCCESS 4 Are All High-Potentials Successful Leaders? Exploring the Underlying Effect of Impostor Syndrome and Evaluative Concerns on the Relationship Between HiPo Designation and Leadership Self-Efficacy The ever-growing popularity of high-potential (HiPo) employee programs in private organizations has in turn driven a strong need for academicians to extensively research this newly developing area. High-potential programs identify individuals who are thought to have the most potential to succeed in strategic leadership roles within the organization in the future and provide those individuals with specialized developmental opportunities (Finkelstein, et al. 2018). The term “HiPo” refers to such employees who are designated as having higher potential than the average. A primary objective across current research on HiPo employee programs aims to find the best mechanism for identifying such employees with high potential which would ultimately help organizations attain optimal levels of productivity. In other words, there is an increasing emphasis on finding the most efficient tool that will help differentiate the future leaders with the maximum potential for enhanced development and success from the average employees (Church & Rotolo, 2013). A gap in the literature is that there has not been a lot of research investigating how employees react to being designated as a HiPo and almost no research looking at how individual differences influence how individuals react differently to HiPo designation. Hence, in this regard the present study looked to understand if any relationship exists between employees being designated as HiPo and their self-perception of being successful leaders. Additionally, the study aims to investigate whether the individual differences of impostor syndrome and evaluative concerns among the participants, plays a moderating role in how employees react to whether they are designated as HiPo. HIPO DESIGNATION AND LEADER SUCCESS 5 This research aims to identify how HiPo designation may affect an employee’s selfperception of being a successful leader. This outcome is represented by leadership self-efficacy (LSE). LSE is defined as the idea one has about their ability to effectively meet the demands of being a leader (Murphy & Johnson, 2016). According to Paglis (2010), high LSE leaders achieve superior results both in individual and collective group performance. Superior performance is a general expectation from HiPo employees, and HiPo employees are also predicted to succeed in strategic organizational roles (Finkelstein, et al. 2018). According to Bandura’s self-efficacy theory (1977), verbal persuasion is a key source of self-efficacy information. When an individual receives verbal affirmation from a trusted and credible source regarding their ability to perform a task, their sense of self-efficacy increases (Wise & Trunnell, 2001). In another study by Luzzo and Taylor (1993), students who received verbal persuasion treatment from a career counselor demonstrated increased levels of self-efficacy in terms of the career decision-making process. These findings were in tandem with Bandura’s (1977) hypothesis that verbal persuasion can significantly influence self-efficacy. In this regard, it was inferred that employees designated as HiPo would demonstrate high levels of LSE, owing to the verbal persuasion effect. This demonstrated the possible relationship that was drawn between HiPo designation and leadership self-efficacy. H1: Individuals designated as high potential will have higher levels of leadership selfefficacy than those who were not designated. HiPo Designation Leadership SelfEfficacy HIPO DESIGNATION AND LEADER SUCCESS 6 Individual Differences In an attempt to study how individual differences among employees affect their perceptions of being successful leaders upon being designated as HiPo, this research first considered impostor syndrome as an individual difference predictor. Impostor syndrome or the impostor phenomenon exists when one feels that they do not deserve their accomplishments or the recognition they have earned (Neureiter & Traut-Mattausch, 2016). People suffering from this phenomenon believe that their success is the result of any error or luck and thus live in constant fear of being proven as less capable (Neureiter & Traut-Mattausch, 2016). Neureiter and Traut-Mattausch’s (2016) research indicated that impostor feelings were significantly predicted by a low self-esteem and a persistent fear of success among working professionals. A study by Hudson and Gonzalez-Gomez (2021), aiming to understand how impostors feel and perform in the workplace, found a significant positive relationship between impostor syndrome and shame. This can be a potential reason why individuals with high levels of impostor syndrome are less likely to react positively to HiPo designation as the underlying feeling of shame hinders their ability to accept what they have achieved. According to the theoretical causal model of leadership (Jackson, 2018) impostor phenomenon among leaders leads to a persistent fear of failure, which ultimately results in a lack of confidence. Prior research has demonstrated that impostor syndrome is associated with a fear of failure and a lack of confidence. Hence, it can be inferred that HiPos (individuals with the potential to succeed as leaders) with high impostor syndrome experience a fair of failure and lack confidence which negatively affects their LSE levels. In this regard, it was predicted that the presence of impostor syndrome could lead to employees reacting differently to being designated as a HiPo which would in turn affect their leadership self-efficacy scores. The current study HIPO DESIGNATION AND LEADER SUCCESS 7 looked to understand whether the presence of impostor syndrome would result in employees reacting differently to a HiPo designation which would in turn affect the relationship between HiPo designation and LSE. H2: Impostor syndrome will moderate the relationship between HiPo designation and leadership self-efficacy, such that for individuals with higher levels of impostor syndrome, leadership self-efficacy will be negatively affected by HiPo designation. Furthering the scope of this study, evaluative concern was another moderating variable that may potentially affect the magnitude of the relationship between HiPo designation and leadership self-efficacy. Evaluative concern refers to a fear of being negatively evaluated by others in demanding situations. In this regard, the notion of evaluative concern relates to public self-consciousness. According to Finkelstein, et al. (2015), people high on the trait of public selfconsciousness are predisposed to demonstrate higher concerns about how others perceive them. A study investigating the phenomenon of choking under pressure that occurs amongst athletes found that individuals high on public self-consciousness were more prone to experience heightened levels of anxiety under perceived pressure leading to substandard performance (Mesagno, et al. 2012). HiPo Designation Leadership Self-Efficacy Impostor Syndrome HIPO DESIGNATION AND LEADER SUCCESS 8 What underlies the idea of evaluative concern is a fear of negative evaluation (FNE). FNE has been defined as “apprehension about others’ evaluations, distress over their negative evaluations, avoidance of evaluative situations, and the expectations that others would evaluate oneself negatively” (Watson & Friend, 1969). The Mesagno, et al. study (2012) had inferred that individuals having high FNE were susceptible to experience high anxiety in pressure situations leading to a deterioration in their performance levels (similar to the high self-conscious people). Thus, combining these two aspects (public self-consciousness and FNE) it can be stated that individuals high on evaluative concern will likely fail to perform at optimal levels under extreme pressure. Strategic leadership roles within organizations are often associated with working under significantly high levels of pressure (in terms of leading the organization and making highimpact decisions). In this regard, it can be predicted that evaluative concern will affect the relationship between HiPo designation and leadership self-efficacy of employees. A study run by Paglis and Green (2002) e