Are people in the West really more proactive than those in the East? The role of different processes and forms of proactivity
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Standard
In: Asia Pacific Journal of Management, 2025.
Research output: Journal contributions › Journal articles › Research › peer-review
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Are people in the West really more proactive than those in the East? The role of different processes and forms of proactivity
AU - Liang, Chuan
AU - Yu, Kaili
AU - Li, Wen Dong
AU - Zhu, Zhekai
AU - Frese, Michael
AU - Li, Cuilin
N1 - Publisher Copyright: © The Author(s) 2025.
PY - 2025
Y1 - 2025
N2 - Proactivity is becoming increasingly crucial for employee career success and organizational productivity in the contemporary workplace across various cultures. However, there has been a prevalent perspective that people in the West seem more proactive than those in the East. This paper challenges the prevalent view by selectively reviewing the research findings and proposing a more comprehensive framework that considers the process of proactivity and its various forms that may better explain cultural differences in proactivity. We identify five cultural dimensions relevant to examining the cultural influences on proactivity: power distance, individualism-collectivism, future orientation, assertiveness, and tightness-looseness. Drawing on research on culture, proactivity, and creativity, we theorize that different cultural dimensions may play a role in shaping three different processes of proactivity: proactive goal generation, planning and execution, and feedback processing. We also elucidate the cultural influences on varying forms of proactivity by classifying them into three broad categories: promotive versus prohibitive, pro-self versus prosocial, and radical versus incremental. Our theorizing challenges and complements the current understanding of cultural influences on proactivity, revealing a more nuanced role that culture may play in shaping proactivity processes.
AB - Proactivity is becoming increasingly crucial for employee career success and organizational productivity in the contemporary workplace across various cultures. However, there has been a prevalent perspective that people in the West seem more proactive than those in the East. This paper challenges the prevalent view by selectively reviewing the research findings and proposing a more comprehensive framework that considers the process of proactivity and its various forms that may better explain cultural differences in proactivity. We identify five cultural dimensions relevant to examining the cultural influences on proactivity: power distance, individualism-collectivism, future orientation, assertiveness, and tightness-looseness. Drawing on research on culture, proactivity, and creativity, we theorize that different cultural dimensions may play a role in shaping three different processes of proactivity: proactive goal generation, planning and execution, and feedback processing. We also elucidate the cultural influences on varying forms of proactivity by classifying them into three broad categories: promotive versus prohibitive, pro-self versus prosocial, and radical versus incremental. Our theorizing challenges and complements the current understanding of cultural influences on proactivity, revealing a more nuanced role that culture may play in shaping proactivity processes.
KW - Cultural influences
KW - Forms of proactivity
KW - Proactivity
KW - Proactivity process
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=105024712716&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1007/s10490-025-10087-5
DO - 10.1007/s10490-025-10087-5
M3 - Journal articles
AN - SCOPUS:105024712716
JO - Asia Pacific Journal of Management
JF - Asia Pacific Journal of Management
SN - 0217-4561
ER -