The concept of personal initiative: Operationalization, reliability and validity in two German samples

Publikation: Beiträge in ZeitschriftenZeitschriftenaufsätzeForschungbegutachtet

Authors

Personal initiative is conceptualized as a behavioural syndrome made up of several factors. It is important for organizational effectiveness and is one aspect of 'contextual performance'. The construct validity of a set of interview-and questionnaire-based scales for measuring initiative was ascertained in interrelated studies (two waves from a longitudinal study in East Germany [N = 543] and a cross-sectional study in West Germany [N = 160]). As hypothesized, initiative correlated with partners' assessments, need for achievement, action orientation, problem-focused and passive emotion-focused coping, career planning and executing plans, but not with job satisfaction. Higher initiative existed in small-scale entrepreneurs in the East and in those unemployed who got a job more quickly.

OriginalspracheEnglisch
ZeitschriftJournal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
Jahrgang70
Ausgabenummer2
Seiten (von - bis)139-161
Anzahl der Seiten23
ISSN0963-1798
DOIs
PublikationsstatusErschienen - 01.06.1997
Extern publiziertJa

Bibliographische Notiz

Funding Information:
We would like to gratefully acknowledge the Duke Division of Laboratory Animal Resources staff and the expert assistance of Dr. Kyha Williams and Dr. Felicita Smith for animal care. We also would like to acknowledge the Substrate Services Core Research Support for a weekly viral monitoring and histology support by Dr. Mingqing Song.

DOI