“No Worries, there is No Error-Free Leadership!”: Error Strain, Worries about Leadership, and Leadership Career Intentions among Non-Leaders

The growing body of research suggests that leadership is not among the most attractive career goals, especially for younger work force. However, need has diminished. To shed light on “problem supply”, this study addresses question why high-potential individuals (i.e., non-leaders) do pursue positions by focusing worries about (WAL) and error-related strain. We had two aims: (1) to identify different profiles WAL highly educated professionals, (2) explore whether their error strain intentions differ identified profiles. Data were gathered from 955 Finnish employees representing sectors. was measured a three-dimensional scale consisting failure, work-life imbalance, harming others. Based Latent Profile Analysis, six emerged: Average-WAL (37% respondents), Low-WAL (34%), (3) High-WAL (6%), (4) Failure-sensitive (9%), (5) Imbalance-sensitive (4%) (6) Harm-sensitive (11%). Professionals in profile reported lowest strain, whereas highest Employees more willing an unfamiliar organization compared other In addition, within home organization. Implications our findings future directions are discussed.