The success of organizational change increasingly depends on employees taking personal responsibility for change through effective adaptation to changing conditions and proactive anticipation of new challenges. In this study, we examined how work context features influence the change-oriented behaviors of adaptivity and proactivity in the workplace. We proposed several direct and moderating effects of job context variables on adaptive and proactive behaviors. We used a multilevel design and a unique data set with 621 special education teachers embedded in 157 urban public schools to test our hypotheses. Our analyses show that adaptive and proactive behaviors are distinct aspects of job performance during organizational change and that different job features have distinct direct and moderating effects on these behaviors. Our results provide insights into how leaders of change efforts can create a work context that encourages employees to actively participate in the change process.Keywords proactive behavior, adaptive behavior, organizational change, work context, job designIn the context of organizational change, some forms of work behavior are more effective and desirable (Howard, 1995). To cope with dynamic environments and enact change, organizations expect employees not only to work harder but also to engage in change-oriented behaviors, such as adapting to changing conditions and proactively Article

Job crafting refers to the actions employees take to shape or redefine their jobs and focuses on the self‐started, proactive changes employees make to their jobs. Despite evidence from a range of empirical studies that job crafting is a common and widespread phenomenon, there is little theory developed about this concept. This article reviews the key antecedents and outcomes of job crafting and the empirical evidence supporting them. More research is needed to understand the conditions under which job crafting has a positive or negative impact on job performance, co‐workers, and the organization. Job crafting theory recognizes the value of employees' proactivity at work and reveals a variety of ways that employees shape their jobs from the bottom‐up, providing a complementary view to the top‐down job design theory. Current trends in the world of work such as greater use of distributed work and self‐managing teams support an increased relevance of job crafting in the future.

Purpose Although proactivity is thought to have positive effects in the workplace, researchers still need to learn more about the contingent aspects of these effects. Proactivity, a challenging form of promotive behavior that is generally desired by organizations, can lead to unexpected consequences such as role overload, job strain, and conflict with coworkers, which may undermine future proactivity. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of proactive behavior on job satisfaction, affective commitment, and conflict with coworkers, in the context of collaborative work. This study investigates the extent to which collaborative behavior, an affiliative form of promotive behavior, can mitigate the impact of proactive behavior on conflict and promote positive individual psychosocial outcomes, thus making proactive behavior more sustainable in the workplace. Design/methodology/approach Using a survey methodology, data were collected from a sample of 170 teachers engaged in collaborative work. Findings Results show that both proactivity and collaborative behavior positively impact affective outcomes, but have opposite effects on conflict. Collaborative behavior complements proactive behavior in that it enhances the effects of proactivity on satisfaction and reduces its impact on conflict. Research limitations/implications Creating the appropriate organizational conditions to support employee proactivity is critical for enhancing proactive employees’ work experience and success, effectively motivating and retaining them, and promoting future proactivity. The results indicate that collaboration creates a context where the positive effects of proactivity are enhanced and its negative effects are weakened. Originality/value This research is one of the first studies to examine the interactive effects of proactivity and collaboration. The study shows that collaborative behavior can play an important role in enhancing the benefits of proactivity. Thus, the research advances a contingency perspective of proactivity and contributes to a better understanding of its effects.

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