Mechanism of Influence of Postgraduates’ Implicit Followership Theories on Their Academic Expectation

Abstract

To explore the mechanism of influence of postgraduates’ implicit followership theories (PIFTs) on their academic expectation (PAE), a questionnaire survey was conducted among 198 postgraduates in 52 groups, and multi-level structural equation models were established by Mplus7.4. Furthermore, the model of mechanism of influence of PIFTs on PAE was determined by testing the fitting indexes and path coefficients of the models. Based on the analysis on the models, the following main conclusions were drawn. PIFTs not only directly influences PAE, but also indirectly affects PAE through the mediating effect of postgraduates’ perception of tutors’ expectation (PPTE) and the chain mediating effect of advisory working alliance (AWA) and PPTE.