AUTHOR=Ji Zheng , He Kaineng , Zhu Jinyan , He Miao 

TITLE=Platform leadership and subordinates’ proactive career behavior: the role of thriving at work and career centrality

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Psychology

VOLUME=Volume 16 - 2025

YEAR=2025

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychology/articles/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552925

DOI=10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1552925

ISSN=1664-1078

ABSTRACT=IntroductionPlatform leadership is a type of leadership characterized by building shared career platforms to foster the growth of subordinates, leaders and organizations. Despite its rising popularity, the implications of platform leadership, particularly its impact on employee outcomes, remain largely unexplored. Based on self-determination theory, this paper discussed the mechanisms and boundary conditions of platform leadership on subordinates’ proactive career behavior.MethodsTo examine these effects, three-wave matched data were collected from 294 employees across diverse industries. The authors used hierarchical regression and bootstrapping analyses to test the hypotheses.ResultsThe results showed that platform leadership promoted subordinates’ proactive career behavior. Thriving at work mediated this relationship. Additionally, higher subordinates’ career centrality strengthened the role of platform leadership in promoting thriving at work, and also enhanced the indirect effect of thriving at work between platform leadership and proactive career behavior.DiscussionOur study makes three key contributions to the platform leadership and career development literature. First, it is the first to investigate the mechanism and boundary conditions linking platform leadership to proactive career behavior. Second, the results offer actionable insights for leadership training and development programs. Finally, this research highlights the critical role of platform leadership in enhancing employees’ perceptions of career platform value, thereby fostering long-term organizational growth through sustained proactive engagement.