From Trait Competitiveness to Work Engagement: The Mediating Role of Self-Leadership among Marketing Professionals in Pakistan

Grounded in the Job Demands-Resources (JD-R) model and self-leadership theory, the current study explored the relationships among trait competitiveness, self-leadership and work engagement among marketing professionals, with the hypotheses that trait competitiveness would negatively predict self-leadership and that gender differences would emerge on these constructs. A cross-sectional design was adopted and data were collected through a survey. A sample of 214 marketing personnel (157 males, 57 females) employed across various industries and private consultancy roles recruited through a convenience sampling approach. The Revised Competitiveness Index (Harris & Houston, 2010), the Abbreviated Self-Leadership Questionnaire by Houghton et al. (2012) and the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (Schaufeli & Bakker, 2003) were utilized as self-reported standardized instruments. Results show that trait competitiveness is negatively associated with both self-leadership (r = -0.32, p < .01) and work engagement (r = -0.20, p < .01), while a positive correlation is observed between self-leadership and work engagement (r = 0.40, p < .01). Regression analysis revealed that trait competitiveness significantly predicted lower levels of self-leadership (? = -0.32, p < .001), accounting for 10% of the variance. Mediation analysis indicated that self-leadership mediated the relationship between trait competitiveness and work engagement, such that higher levels of trait competitiveness were associated with lower work engagement through reduced self-leadership. Significant gender differences are observed, where women reported higher enjoyment of competition, whereas men scored higher on dedication, a component of work engagement. These findings highlight the role of self-regulatory processes in shaping engagement in competitive work contexts.