The Mediating Role of Occupational Self-Efficacy in the Relationship Between Leader-Member Exchange and Occupational Commitment: A Study on Accounting Interns

It is observed that accounting interns lose interest in the profession without entering the profession professionally due to some events they encounter during their internship. Therefore, determining the driving forces of occupational commitment (OC) of accounting interns is important for the development of the accounting profession. This study aimed to discover how the leader-member exchange (LMX) of accounting interns with the members of the profession they work with affects their OC through their occupational self-efficacy (OSE) beliefs. To this end, data were collected through a survey method from 284 twelfth-grade students of the accounting and finance departments of Vocational and Technical Anatolian High Schools in Türkiye. The collected data were analyzed with the SmartPLS 4 analysis program. The analysis found that LMX positively affects both OC and OSE Furthermore, the analysis results showed that OSE positively impacts OC. Additionally, this study concluded that OSE is a partial complementary mediator variable in the relationship between LMX and OC. The available literature has overlooked the mediating role of OSE in the relationship between LMX and OC. This study offers new contributions in both theory and practice by highlighting the importance of LMX and OSE for the development of accounting interns' OC.