<![CDATA[As the concept of positive organizational behavior has evolved, strengths-based leadership has emerged as a leadership approach focused on developing individual potential and strengths. Leaders play a role in helping employees recognize, develop, and optimize their strengths through support, trust, and positive feedback. This approach is believed to enhance personal initiative—that is, proactive, self-directed, and change-oriented behavior in completing tasks. In addition to leadership, personal initiative is also influenced by perceived competence—an individual’s belief in their ability to complete tasks and face challenges. In organizational behavior studies, perceived competence serves as a psychological mechanism linking the influence of leadership style to individual behavior in the workplace. Therefore, this study examines the effect of Strengths-Based Leadership on Personal Initiative, with Perceived Competence as the mediating variable. This is a quantitative study. The population for this study consists of all educational staff working at a university in Pekanbaru. Data analysis was conducted using the Partial Least Squares (PLS) method with Smart PLS software. Based on the research findings, it can be concluded that Strengths-Based Leadership has a positive and significant effect on Personal Initiative and Perceived Competence. Furthermore, Perceived Competence also has a positive effect on Personal Initiative and was found to mediate the relationship between Strengths-Based Leadership and Personal Initiative. Strengths-Based Leadership has a positive and significant effect on Work Engagement. Strengths-Based Leadership also has a positive and significant effect on Resilience. Resilience has a positive and significant effect on Work Engagement. The results of the indirect effect test indicate that Resilience plays a significant role in the relationship between Strengths-Based Leadership and Work Engagement]]>
