Minimizing strain and maximizing learning: The role of job demands, job control, and proactive personality.

Abstract

Using a sample of 268 production employees, this study extended research on R. Karasek's (1979) demands-control model of stress in 2 ways. First, results show that R. Karasek's proposed interaction between demands and control when predicting strain occurred only for more proactive employees. This 3-way interaction helps reconcile previous inconsistent findings about the interaction between demands and control when predicting strain. Second, the study extends research by investigating the demands-control interaction and the moderating influence of proactive personality in relation to learning-oriented outcomes (perceived mastery, role breadth self-efficacy, and production ownership). There were no 3-way interactions among the variables when predicting these learning-oriented outcomes, but all were important predictors. These results show (a) that demands and control can influence learning as proposed in the dynamic version of the demands-control model and (b) that proactive personality plays an important moderating role.

Proactive work behavior: Forward-thinking and change-oriented action in organizations.

“…Recently, Griffin and colleagues (in press) found that leader vision in combination with high levels of role breadth self-efficacy led to significant increases in proactivity one year later. Parker and Sprigg (1999) showed that job control mitigated the stressful effects of high job demands for employees who were high in proactive personality but not for those who are more passive (interaction of β=-.12, p<.01). The researchers argued that proactive employees take advantage of high levels of job control to manage their job demands more effectively, whereas passive employees do not make good use of autonomy and so high levels of job demands lead to higher levels of strain irrespective of the level of job control.…”

Proactive personality and work performance in China: The moderating effects of emotional exhaustion and perceived safety climate

“…Energy spent in dealing with the emotional consequences of heavy workloads and chronic strain can seriously decrease one's resources to respond effectively to job demands, thereby provoking higher levels of emotional exhaustion and consequently affecting performance (Karasek, 1979;Parker & Sprigg, 1999;Taris, 2006). It is in the nature of proactive people to energetically engage the environment and alter it to get things done.…”

Proactive and politically skilled professionals: What is the relationship with affective occupational commitment?

“…Since its emergence in the early 1990s, PP has gained momentum as a valid construct and a predictor of relevant outcomes, including organizational performance (Crant, 1995), work adjustment (Kammeyer-Mueller & Wanberg, 2003), the ability to deal with occupational constraints (Parker & Sprigg, 1999), and leadership performance (Crant & Bateman, 2000). PP has also been linked with actual advancements in salary and position (Seibert et al, 1999;Seibert et al, 2001), job search success (Brown, Cober, Kane, Levy, & Shalhoop, 2006), organizational citizenship behavior (Parker, 1998), career success (Seibert et al, 2001), and team effectiveness (Kirkman & Rosen, 1999).…”