Abstract: Background: Persistence and early leadership readiness are critical outcomes in healthcare management education, yet the psychosocial mechanisms that support them remain under-specified. This study tested whether students’ adoption of a growth mindset relates to academic persistence, resilience, and leadership readiness, and whether resilience mediates the growth-mindset → leadership-readiness pathway.
Methods: In a cross-sectional survey of healthcare management students (N = 220), participants completed validated measures of growth mindset, resilience, academic persistence, and leadership readiness. Analyses used zero-order correlations and a regression-based mediation model with completely standardized coefficients (β). Inference for the indirect effect relied on bias-corrected bootstrap (BCa) 95% confidence intervals, with normal-theory estimates reported for transparency.
Results: Growth mindset was positively associated with academic persistence (r = .363, 95% CI [.242, .473], p < .001; R² = .132) and resilience (r = .522, 95% CI [.419, .612], p < .001; R² = .272). For leadership readiness, the total association with growth mindset was r = .571 (p < .001). In the mediation model, growth mindset predicted resilience (a = .522), resilience predicted leadership readiness controlling for growth mindset (b ≈ .425), and the direct path remained positive (c′ ≈ .349). The indirect effect was ab ≈ .222, accounting for approximately 39% of the total association (PM = .389). BCa bootstrap 95% CI for the indirect effect excluding zero, indicating statistically reliable mediation. The joint model explained ~46% of the variance in leadership readiness (R² ≈ .457).
Conclusions: Among healthcare management students, endorsing a growth mindset is linked to greater persistence and resilience and predicts leadership readiness both directly and via resilience. Findings identify a belief-to-capacity-to-readiness mechanism with actionable implications: pairing mindset-supportive pedagogy with structured resilience training may enhance retention and leader preparation.
Limitations & Implications: Cross-sectional, self-report data limit causal inference; longitudinal or experimental designs are warranted. Programs can leverage these effect-size benchmarks to design and evaluate interventions that integrate mindset scaffolding and resilience-building within authentic, challenge-rich learning experiences.
Keywords: growth mindset, resilience, persistence, leadership readiness, higher education.
Title: Developing Resilient Healthcare Leaders: Applying Growth Mindset Theory in Higher Education
Author: Dr. David Augustine Bull
International Journal of Interdisciplinary Research and Innovations
ISSN 2348-1218 (print), ISSN 2348-1226 (online)
Vol. 13, Issue 4, October 2025 - December 2025
Page No: 31-50
Research Publish Journals
Website: www.researchpublish.com
Published Date: 22-October-2025