The impact of workplace environment on the impostor phenomenon among early career starters
Publication date
2025-04-01
Document type
Forschungsartikel
Author
Organisational unit
Publisher
Elsevier B.V.
Series or journal
Current Research in Behavioral Sciences
ISSN
Periodical volume
8
Article ID
100175
Peer-reviewed
✅
Part of the university bibliography
✅
Funding(s)
Language
English
Keyword
Impostor phenomenon
Performance pressure
Workplace environment
Female impostor phenomenon
Early career starters
Abstract
Characterized by feelings of self-doubt and a fear of exposure despite objective success, the impostor phenomenon (IP) affects a significant portion of high achievers, yet its manifestation in early career starters outside academia and healthcare remains under-researched. This study investigated the effect of external work predictors including performance pressure, specific business areas, and gender on IP by focusing on this unique and under-researched population. A sample of 353 professional career starters with academic degrees participated in this online study. The results indicated that performance pressure had a positive effect on IP, particularly on key dimensions such as Competence Doubt, Alienation and Other–Self Divergence, whereas specific business areas did not have a significant impact on the experience of IP. Additionally, gender was identified as a relevant predictor for IP in general and a significant moderator in the relationship between performance pressure and impostor levels, revealing that women exhibited more impostor feelings. This study addresses a notable gap in the literature by concentrating on the experiences of early career starters within non-academic work environments and external predictors caused by the workforce.
Description
This is an open access article under the CC BY license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)
Version
Published version
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