Relationship between Fear of Success and Self-Esteem:A Study on Middle Management

A potential leadership divests organizations and society because these individuals fail to realize their full potential. Fear of success can be defined as persons who fail to realize their full potential and withdraw from success, because of the negative consequences that prevent the person from dreaming and achieving his goals. Self-esteem is a factor contributing to personal satisfaction and effective functioning, a realization that they are good and valuable individuals. The purpose of the present study was to examine the relationship between the fear of success and self-esteem among Multinational Company managers. It also aimed to study the gender differences between the fear of success and self-esteem. This study was based on an empirical investigation conducted among 40 male and 40 female professional managers from various middle management of various organizations. The instruments used for this research were Fear of Success (Zuckerman & Allison, 1976) and State Self-Esteem scale (Heatherton & Polivy, 1991). Correlation and t-test were used for analyzing the results. Obtained results showed there was a significant correlation between self-esteem and fear of success. Components of self-esteem show significant correlation with fear of success. Male managers were significantly higher than female managers on self-esteem, while female managers were significantly higher than their male counterparts on fear of success. Implications for practice and research are discussed in the present study.