Melnik Y.I. Professional Well-being of a Manager and its Relationship with Self-efficacy, Machiavellianism and Managerial Orientations

Preservation and maintenance of professional well-being is one of the key factors in the career development of a specialist and success in professional activity. Today, the issue of professional well-being and psychological health is also important for organizations that care about the well-being of their employees and especially their managerial staff. Within the framework of management activities, the quality of professional well-being acts as a factor in the prevention and prophylaxis of professional deformation and burnout of managers. In the applied sense and in terms of research, the question of how the professional well-being of a manager determines the effectiveness of their activities and the manifestation of their management competencies becomes relevant.

The purpose of the study was to study the relationship between the professional well-being of a manager and the level of their self-efficacy, the level of Machiavellianism, and the severity of the corresponding managerial orientations. The study used the method of theoretical analysis of the problem and the empirical method of data collection using psychodiagnostic techniques. The study involved students of the Presidential Management Training Program – middle and top managers of enterprises and organizations in Petrozavodsk.

The article presents the results of studying self-efficacy, Machiavellianism, and managerial orientations in connection with different levels of professional well-being among managers. Managers with a higher level of professional well-being are characterized by a higher level of self-efficacy, a lower level of Machiavellianism, and a management orientation towards the business. Managers with a relatively low level of professional well-being are characterized by a lower level of self-efficacy, a relatively high level of Machiavellianism, and a management orientation towards themselves.

The results of the study on a sample of managers allow us to conclude that professional well-being can determine a higher degree of self-efficacy in management activities. It can also be argued that the opposite effect is also possible: more self-efficacious managers experience higher professional well-being. Professional well-being, self-efficacy, and Machiavellianism act as separate, relatively independent factors.

Key words: professional well-being, self-efficacy, Machiavellianism, managerial orientations, psychological well-being

For citation: Melnik, Y.I. (2025). Professional Well-being of a Manager and its Relationship with Self-efficacy, Machiavellianism and Managerial Orientations. New Psychological Research, No. 4, 103–121. DOI: 10.51217/npsyresearch_2025_05_04_05