On the basis of self-regulation theories, the authors develop an affective shift model of work engagement according to which work engagement emerges from the dynamic interplay of positive and negative affect. The affective shift model posits that negative affect is positively related to work engagement if negative affect is followed by positive affect. The authors applied experience sampling methodology to test the model. Data on affective events, mood, and work engagement was collected twice a day over 9 working days among 55 software developers. In support of the affective shift model, negative mood and negative events experienced in the morning of a working day were positively related to work engagement in the afternoon if positive mood in the time interval between morning and afternoon was high. Individual differences in positive affectivity moderated within-person relationships. The authors discuss how work engagement can be fostered through affect regulation.
This study explores the role of work engagement as an affective-motivational mechanism through which transformational leadership may relate to proactive behaviour. In line with a resource-based approach (Hobfoll, 1989), we hypothesize that employees only invest resources provided through work engagement into proactivity when job strain is low. Under conditions of high job strain, work engagement is less likely to translate into proactive behaviours. In contrast, for core task-related job performance, we expect work engagement to be positively related to core job performance regardless of job strain. The hypotheses were tested in a multisource field study among 148 employee-colleague dyads. Focal employees self-rated their work engagement, job strain, and their supervisor's transformational leadership. Employee proactivity (personal initiative and voice behaviour) and core job performance were rated by colleagues. The findings support the moderated mediation model. Transformational leadership related positively to work engagement and in turn to proactivity in terms of both personal initiative and voice. Low job strain formed a necessary precondition for work engagement to translate into higher proactivity, whereas the relationship between work engagement and core job performance was independent from job strain.
Practitioner pointsOrganizations need to avoid high stress that might evoke strain in employees and thereby prevent work engagement from translating into proactivity. This can be achieved, for instance, through training interventions based on a cognitive-behavioural approach and through organizational interventions aimed at increasing employees' job autonomy and decision-making, as well as the implementation of rest periods. Organizations can improve transformational leadership skills in supervisors to increase employee proactivity. Transformational leadership skills can be developed through education, training, and coaching interventions that are based on action-oriented methods and are aimed at fostering selfreflection in supervisors.In today's competitive economy, organizations need proactive employees who are selfstarting, forward-thinking, and willing to contribute. Proactivity is defined as constructive and anticipatory work behaviour that is intended to be functional for the organization
This study investigated within-person relationships between daily problem solving demands, selection, optimization, and compensation (SOC) strategy use, job satisfaction, and fatigue at work. Based on conservation of resources theory, it was hypothesized that high SOC strategy use boosts the positive relationship between problem solving demands and job satisfaction, and buffers the positive relationship between problem solving demands and fatigue. Using a daily diary study design, data were collected from 64 administrative employees who completed a general questionnaire and two daily online questionnaires over four work days. Multilevel analyses showed that problem solving demands were positively related to fatigue, but unrelated to job satisfaction. SOC strategy use was positively related to job satisfaction, but unrelated to fatigue. A buffering effect of high SOC strategy use on the demands-fatigue relationship was found, but no booster effect on the demands-satisfaction relationship. The results suggest that high SOC strategy use is a resource that protects employees from the negative effects of high problem solving demands.
This two-year study with 122 business owners examined the link between affective wellbeing and task-oriented as well as relationship-oriented personal initiative (PI). We tested two complementary models explaining the link between well-being and PI: (1) broaden-andbuild theory and (2) self-regulation as limited resource approach. In line with current research on well-being, we differentiated between hedonic and eudaimonic well-being using life satisfaction and vigor as indicators. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that only vigor predicted both forms of PI. Our results support the self-regulation approach and indicate that eudaimonic well-being is the relevant affective well-being dimension for proactive behavior.
This study focuses on the identification of business opportunities when entrepreneurs’ perceived level of environmental uncertainty changes. We suggest that within persons, exploration mediates this relationship and entrepreneurial self-efficacy moderates whether entrepreneurs explore more or less with increasing uncertainty. To test our moderated mediation model we conducted a monthly field study with 121 early-stage entrepreneurs. Multilevel regression analyses reveal that an increase in the level of perceived uncertainty within entrepreneurs predicted the identification of opportunities through exploration for entrepreneurs high in self-efficacy, but not for those low in self-efficacy. Entrepreneurial self-efficacy acts as a personal resource that helps entrepreneurs to transform increasing perceptions of uncertainty into exploration and opportunity identification.
This study aims to investigate the role of daily vitality as an energy-based mechanism through which sleep quantity and quality relate to proactive behavior. In addition, we propose that daily self-efficacy forms a contingency condition in that self-efficacy facilitates the translation of vitality into proactive behavior. We conducted a 7-day diary study based on a sample of 66 employees who completed surveys 3 times daily. We used multilevel regression analyses to test the hypotheses while controlling for the 1-day lagged measures of vitality and proactivity. The results provide evidence for a model of moderated mediation. Sleep quality but not quantity predicted an increase in daily vitality. Self-efficacy moderated the relationship between vitality and daily proactivity such that this relationship was stronger when self-efficacy was reported to be high rather than low. The conditional effect mediated by vitality was significant for sleep quality but not for sleep quantity and occurred at the within-person level of analysis. These results suggest that organizations aiming to boost daily proactivity in employees can benefit from increasing employees' self-efficacy and supporting them in developing strategies to ensure sufficient vitality. One such strategy is improving sleep quality. This study extends the literature on dynamics in proactive work behavior and its well-being-related antecedents by exploring both vitality as an underlying energetic mechanism and daily self-efficacy as a boundary condition. (PsycINFO Database Record
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