The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among job challenge, career development support, motivation to lead, and adaptive performance of new managers in large corporations, and to test the moderated mediation effects of goal orientat...
The purpose of this study is to examine the relationships among job challenge, career development support, motivation to lead, and adaptive performance of new managers in large corporations, and to test the moderated mediation effects of goal orientation in these relationships. To accomplish the objectives of the study, the specific research objectives are as follows. First, to examine the direct effects among job challenge, career development support, motivation to lead, and adaptive performance of new managers in large corporations. Second, to test the indirect effects of job challenge and career development support on adaptive performance mediated by motivation to lead. Third, to examine the moderated mediation effects of learning goal orientation and performance goal orientation in the relationships among job challenge, career development support, motivation to lead, and adaptive performance.
The participants of this study were new managers working in large corporations in Korea. The population size was estimated to be approximately 34,000 new managers in large corporations, and the target sample size was set at 300. A purposive sampling method based on corporate collaborators was used. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire, which consisted of measures of job challenge, career development support, motivation to lead, adaptive performance, learning goal orientation, performance goal orientation, and demographic characteristics. With the exception of adaptive performance and motivation to lead, the instruments for each variable were drawn from measures previously used in Korean corporate contexts. The instruments for adaptive performance and motivation to lead were translated and adapted to fit the context of large corporations in Korea, and reliability and validity were established through content validity and face validity assessments by experts and practicing managers, as well as a pilot test. Data collection was conducted online from June 2 to September 30, 2025, and a total of 373 responses were obtained. After excluding insufficient responses, 310 cases were used for the final analysis. Data analysis was conducted using SPSS 27.0 and PROCESS Macro 5.0 to perform descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, difference tests, multiple regression analysis, mediation analysis, and moderated mediation analysis. The statistical significance level (p-value) was set at 0.05.
The main findings of the study are as follows. First, job challenge, career development support, and motivation to lead had significant positive effects on adaptive performance of new managers in large corporations. In addition, job challenge and career development support had significant positive effects on motivation to lead. Second, motivation to lead showed significant mediating effects in the relationships between job challenge and adaptive performance, and between career development support and adaptive performance. Third, learning goal orientation significantly strengthened the effect of job challenge on motivation to lead; however, the moderating effect was not significant at low levels of learning goal orientation. Performance goal orientation showed a significant negative moderating effect, weakening the effect of career development support on motivation to lead; however, the moderating effect was not significant only at very high levels of performance goal orientation. Fourth, learning goal orientation had a positive moderated mediation effect in the relationship where job challenge influenced adaptive performance through motivation to lead. In contrast, performance goal orientation had a negative moderated mediation effect in the relationship where career development support influenced adaptive performance through motivation to lead.
Based on the findings, the conclusions of this study are as follows. First, job challenge, career development support, and motivation to lead were identified as factors that significantly enhance adaptive performance of new managers in large corporations. This suggests that providing challenging job demands and career development support during the transition to managerial roles strengthens motivation to lead and facilitates adaptation to new roles and situations. Second, the mediating role of motivation to lead in the effects of job challenge and career development support on adaptive performance was supported. This indicates that challenging assignments and systematic career development support increase new managers’ motivation to lead, which in turn promotes adaptive performance required for novel tasks and change contexts. Third, learning goal orientation positively moderated the relationship between job challenge and motivation to lead, whereas performance goal orientation negatively moderated the relationship between career development support and motivation to lead. Fourth, learning goal orientation strengthened the indirect effect of job challenge on adaptive performance via motivation to lead, whereas performance goal orientation weakened the indirect effect of career development support on adaptive performance via motivation to lead. These results suggest that, from the perspective of developing new managers, the provision and intensity of job demands and job resources should be designed more precisely in consideration of individual differences.
Based on the results of this study, suggestions for future research are as follows. First, further research is needed to identify situational variables that influence motivation to lead in order to strengthen adaptive performance of new managers. Second, future studies should examine differences among the subdimensions of motivation to lead to clarify the process through which motivation to lead is activated. Third, additional research should explore strategies to enhance adaptive performance across contexts by examining relationships by the subdimensions of adaptive performance. Fourth, longitudinal research with different measurement time points across variables is needed to capture changes during the transition to managerial roles and to test causal relationships more rigorously. Practical suggestions are as follows. First, it is necessary to strengthen motivation to lead by improving onboarding programs for new managers. Second, it is necessary to consider ways to incorporate psychological characteristics of managers, including motivation to lead, into the selection process for new managers.