Curbing recidivism in Ghana: the nexus between career self-efficacy and psychological empowerment

Purpose This paper aims to investigate the moderated-mediation roles of career crafting as well as leader-member exchange (LMX) between career decision self-efficacy and psychological empowerment among ex-offenders in Ghana. Design/methodology/approach A purposive sampling technique was used in selecting of 412 ex-offenders at various religious rehabilitation units in Ghana. A multiple regression analysis was conducted to investigate the hypothesized paths. Findings The findings show that LMX moderates the mediated link between career crafting and psychological empowerment. Research limitations/implications Guided by the positivist paradigm deployed in the study, some methodological limitations such as the inability to provide an in-depth explanation of cause-and-effect relationships are worth noting for future studies to explore. Originality/value To the best of the authors’ knowledge, the empirical work is unique, as it is the first to extend the scope of career development through the perspective of recidivism in an emerging economy.