The moderating effect of perceived job characteristics on the proactive personality-organizational citizenship behavior relationship

Abstract

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to explore relationships between proactive personality and organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs). Moderators between these constructs are proposed in order to explain varying levels of dispositional impact on work behavior. These relationships were also tested to see whether proactive personality should be considered a strong or weak trait. Trait activation theory and social exchange theory are used to develop hypotheses. Design/methodology/approach – Data collected via a targeted sampling strategy from 178 supervisor-subordinate dyads spanning multiple industries and organizations were used. Hypotheses were tested using hierarchical linear regression. Findings – Results indicate a positive relationship exists between proactive personality and organizationally directed citizenship behaviors, and that this relationship is moderated by both job autonomy and job meaning. Originality/value – The paper is one of the first to explore the relationship between proactive personality and citizenship behaviors directed at the organization. It also bolsters the strong trait argument by demonstrating that, even in conditions of low autonomy and meaning, highly proactive individuals will still perform OCBs.

Keeping the peace

“…Thus, consistent with past research (e.g. Joo and Lim, 2009;Liguori et al, 2013), individuals who are low on proactive personality may be more affected by contextual factors than highly proactive individuals.…”

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“…Thus we propose the following: H3 The innovative behavior has a positive effect on the perceived performance of small businesses Proactive personality defines the character of an individual who responsible for task performance. The strong performance is a reflection of self and individual experience in which individuals become agents of change in the work environment and focus more on the successful performance (Bergeron, Schroeder & Martinez 2014;Liguori, McLarty & Muldoon 2012;Yang 2013). Proactive personality has a positive relationship with business performance (Crant 1996).…”

Do Transformational Leaders Engage Employees in Sustainable Innovative Work Behaviour? Perspective from a Developing Country

“…Likewise, Liu and Shi [43] mention that employee proactivity is change-oriented and self-initiated and that employees never wait for the opportunity to be presented to them by others to become proactive. They keep working on identifying opportunities, act on them, take further action, and persist until the desired change is accomplished [48]. Proactivity is difficult to define.…”