Abstract

This study investigated the effect of compassionate leadership on the subjective career success of Saudi Arabian healthcare professionals (i.e., Doctors, nurses, surgeons, and administration), along with the mediating roles of core self-evaluation and employee retention. A purposive sampling technique was used to acquire the responses from the intended participants. A total of 415 valid responses were collected during three phases of data collection. Statistical tools (i.e., SPSS and SmartPLS4) were used for data analysis. For analysing data reliability, validity, and hypothesis testing, statistical analysis containing descriptive statistics (i.e., mean and standard deviation), correlation (Pearson correlation analysis), confirmatory composite analysis (i.e., Cronbach alpha, rho_A, composite reliability, average variance extracted, and variance inflation factor) and structural equation modeling, were conducted. The findings highlighted that healthcare professionals are more likely to have job retention and feel successful when their leaders demonstrate these compassionate behaviors. These behaviors had a high capacity to positively influence core self-evaluation, which leads to overall subjective career success. Compassionate leadership behavior and effective employee core self-evaluation and retention strategies improved career success in healthcare organizations. Moreover, these measures are critical in creating strong social capital among Saudi employees. Boosting the subjective career success of healthcare employees involves a focus on compassionate leadership, core self-evaluation, and employee retention.