The impostor phenomenon is the persistent feeling of being a fraud despite clear evidence of success. Individuals doubt their abilities, attributing achievements to luck rather than competence. This self-doubt can lower career satisfaction by undermining confidence, reducing motivation, and creating fear of failure, ultimately impacting how individuals perceive and pursue their professional achievements.

Taşkıran, E., Çelik, G. G., Behram, N. K., Elmalı, E. D., & Öngel, G. (2025). Unraveling the complex interplay: Self-esteem, impostor phenomenon, proactive personality, and their influence on career satisfaction. Frontiers in Psychology, 16, 1583454. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2025.1583454

Key Points

• The study explores how self-esteem, the impostor phenomenon, and proactive personality jointly influence career satisfaction.
• The research aimed to investigate whether the impostor phenomenon mediates the relationship between self-esteem and career satisfaction, and whether proactive personality moderates this mediation.
• Self-esteem positively predicted career satisfaction and negatively predicted impostor phenomenon; impostor phenomenon negatively predicted career satisfaction; proactive personality moderated the relationship between impostor phenomenon and career satisfaction; mediation by impostor phenomenon was not supported.
• Findings emphasize the importance of developing self-esteem and proactive traits to enhance career satisfaction, even among those who experience impostor feelings.

Rationale

Although prior research linked self-esteem to career satisfaction and the impostor phenomenon, the interplay between these constructs with proactive personality had not been fully investigated.

Career satisfaction has been viewed as an essential marker of subjective career success, but how impostor feelings intervene remained unclear.

Considering the increase in impostorism in competitive industries, understanding these relationships is crucial.

By drawing on Self-Determination Theory (SDT) and Social Identity Theory (SIT), this study seeks to fill the research gap and inform future interventions aimed at enhancing career satisfaction in organizational settings​.

Method

The study employed a quantitative survey design. Data were collected using standardized scales measuring self-esteem, impostor phenomenon, proactive personality, and career satisfaction from employees at a private bank in Istanbul, Turkey.

Procedure

• Employees were invited via the Human Resources department to voluntarily complete an online survey.
• Informed consent and confidentiality assurances were provided.
• 390 surveys were returned; after data cleaning, 376 were included for analysis.
• Data collection spanned February to June 2022.

Sample

• Sample size: 376 employees
• Gender: 65.2% female, 34.8% male
• Age: Majority (46.8%) aged 21–30
• Marital status: 51.3% single, 48.7% married
• Education: 89.9% undergraduate degree holders
• Experience: Most (31.6%) had 1–5 years of professional experience​.

Measures

• Self-Esteem Scale (Rosenberg, 1965): 10 items assessing global self-worth​.
• Clance Impostor Phenomenon Scale (CIPS) (Clance, 1985): 20 items measuring feelings of intellectual fraudulence​.
• Career Satisfaction Scale (Greenhaus et al., 1990): 5 items evaluating satisfaction with career achievements​.
• Proactive Personality Scale (Seibert et al., 2001): 10 items assessing personal initiative and proactive behavior​.

Statistical Measures

• Software: SPSS, PROCESS Macro, AMOS
• Analyses: Descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, hierarchical regression, mediation and moderation analyses using Hayes’ PROCESS Models 1, 4, and 14
• Model fit indicators: Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) reported acceptable goodness-of-fit (e.g., RMSEA < 0.08)​.
• Control variables: Gender, age, marital status, education level, professional experience.

Results

• Self-esteem was positively correlated with career satisfaction (β = 0.289, p < .001)​.
• Self-esteem was negatively correlated with impostor phenomenon (β = -0.650, p < .001)​.
• Impostor phenomenon was negatively correlated with career satisfaction (β = -0.131, p < .01)​.
• Mediation of impostor phenomenon between self-esteem and career satisfaction was not supported​.
• Moderation by proactive personality was significant: individuals high in proactive personality buffered the negative impact of impostor feelings on career satisfaction​.
• Moderated mediation was supported: the indirect effect of self-esteem on career satisfaction via impostor phenomenon was significant for low proactive individuals​.

Insight

This study sheds light on the complex relationships among self-esteem, impostor feelings, and proactive personality.

Although impostor phenomenon did not mediate the link between self-esteem and career satisfaction, proactive personality effectively buffered the negative consequences of impostor feelings on satisfaction.

This emphasizes the value of nurturing both self-esteem and proactive traits in organizational environments.

Future research should expand into different industries and cultures to verify the generalizability of the findings​.

Clinical Implications

• For HR Practices: Focus on hiring and developing employees with strong self-esteem and proactive personalities to enhance organizational satisfaction and resilience against impostor feelings.
• For Employee Development: Introduce training to foster self-efficacy, proactive behaviors, and coping strategies for impostor feelings.
• Potential Challenges: Tailoring interventions to various personality types; organizational culture must support individual initiative to maximize benefits.
• Policy Implication: Promote mental wellness initiatives that address impostor feelings alongside traditional performance development programs​.

Strengths

This study had several methodological strengths, including:

• The study applies an innovative moderated mediation model, extending existing theories like SDT and SIT​.
• Large sample size (n=376) with good representation across gender and age groups enhances statistical power​.
• High construct validity and reliability of measures confirmed via CFA​.
• Used robust statistical techniques like bootstrapping for mediation and moderation testing​.

Limitations

This study also had several limitations, including:

• Cross-sectional design limits causal inference​.
• Data were collected from a single organization and industry, restricting generalizability​.
• Self-report measures may introduce common method bias despite attempts to mitigate it​.
• The CIPS scale was used in aggregate form without analyzing its sub-dimensions​.
• The cultural context (Turkey) may influence findings; results might differ elsewhere​.

Socratic Questions

• What alternative explanations might account for the lack of a mediation effect by the impostor phenomenon?
• How might proactive personality differ in its impact across industries or cultures?
• Would a longitudinal design produce different insights into the dynamic relationships among these variables?
• Could interventions focusing solely on self-esteem inadvertently reinforce impostor feelings if not handled carefully?
• How might the impostor phenomenon interact with external factors like organizational culture or leadership styles?