TY - JOUR

T1 - Reciprocal Relationship Between Proactive Personality and Work Characteristics

T2 - A Latent Change Score Approach

AU - Li, Wen-Dong

AU - Fay, Doris

AU - Frese, Michael

AU - Harms, Peter D

AU - Gao, Xiang Yu

PY - 2014/9

Y1 - 2014/9

N2 - Previous proactivity research has predominantly assumed that proactive personality generates positive environmental changes in the workplace. Grounded in recent research on personality development from a broad interactionist theoretical approach, the present article investigates whether work characteristics, including job demands, job control, social support from supervisors and coworkers, and organizational constraints, change proactive personality over time and, more important, reciprocal relationships between proactive personality and work characteristics. Latent change score analyses based on longitudinal data collected in 3 waves across 3 years show that job demands and job control have positive lagged effects on increases in proactive personality. In addition, proactive personality exerts beneficial lagged effects on increases in job demands, job control, and supervisory support, and on decreases in organizational constraints. Dynamic reciprocal relationships are observed between proactive personality with job demands and job control. The revealed corresponsive change relationships between proactive personality and work characteristics contribute to the proactive personality literature by illuminating more nuanced interplays between the agentic person and work characteristics, and also have important practical implications for organizations and employees.

AB - Previous proactivity research has predominantly assumed that proactive personality generates positive environmental changes in the workplace. Grounded in recent research on personality development from a broad interactionist theoretical approach, the present article investigates whether work characteristics, including job demands, job control, social support from supervisors and coworkers, and organizational constraints, change proactive personality over time and, more important, reciprocal relationships between proactive personality and work characteristics. Latent change score analyses based on longitudinal data collected in 3 waves across 3 years show that job demands and job control have positive lagged effects on increases in proactive personality. In addition, proactive personality exerts beneficial lagged effects on increases in job demands, job control, and supervisory support, and on decreases in organizational constraints. Dynamic reciprocal relationships are observed between proactive personality with job demands and job control. The revealed corresponsive change relationships between proactive personality and work characteristics contribute to the proactive personality literature by illuminating more nuanced interplays between the agentic person and work characteristics, and also have important practical implications for organizations and employees.

KW - Management studies

KW - Dynamic reciprocal relationship

KW - Latent change score

KW - Personality change

KW - Proactive personality

KW - Work characteristics

KW - Entrepreneurship

KW - Business psychology

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84925865940&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1037/a0036169

DO - 10.1037/a0036169

M3 - Journal articles

C2 - 24635530

VL - 99

SP - 948

EP - 965

JO - Journal of Applied Psychology

JF - Journal of Applied Psychology

SN - 0021-9010

IS - 5

ER -