Drawbacks of proactivity: Effects of daily proactivity on daily salivary cortisol and subjective well-being.

Abstract

The benefit of proactive work behaviors for performance-related outcomes has been well established. However, this approach to studying proactivity has not yet acknowledged its potential implications for the actor's well-being. Drawing on the fact that resources at work are limited and that the workplace is a social system characterized by interdependencies, we proposed that daily proactivity could have a negative effect on daily well-being. We furthermore proposed that this effect should be mediated by work overload and negative affect. We conducted a daily diary study (N = 72) to test the potential negative effects of proactivity on daily well-being. Data was collected across 3 consecutive work days. During several daily measurement occasions, participants reported proactivity, work overload, negative affect, and fatigue. They also provided 4 saliva samples per day, from which cortisol was assayed. Based on the 4 samples, a measure of daily cortisol output was produced. Multilevel analyses showed that daily proactivity was positively associated with higher daily cortisol output. The positive association of daily proactivity with bedtime fatigue was marginally significant. There was no support for a mediating effect of work overload and negative affect. Implications for theory-building on the proactivity-well-being link are discussed. (PsycINFO Database Record

A resources perspective on when and how proactive work behaviour leads to employee withdrawal

“…In line with this, research has suggested that engaging in proactivity is associated with increased strain. Whereas Fay and Hüttges () studied end‐of‐day fatigue as a consequence of proactivity, Strauss et al . () found that supervisor‐reported proactivity was positively related to employees’ affective strain.…”

“…Our second contribution relates to the nature of strain. Previous research on well‐being outcomes of proactivity has largely focused on a limited number of well‐being indicators (e.g., affect‐related: Strauss et al ., ; Zacher et al ., ; physiological indicators of strain: Fay & Hüttges, ; or ego depletion: Lin & Johnson, ). The present study continues this stream of research by including irritability as an indicator of affect‐related strain.…”

“…Above and beyond its numerous positive outcomes (Bindl & Parker, ), an emerging line of literature has advocated that engaging in proactivity might carry costs for actors’ well‐being (Bolino, Turnley, & Anderson, ; Cangiano & Parker, ). Recent empirical research has indicated that proactivity might be associated with affective strain (Strauss et al ., ), increased cortisol output (Fay & Hüttges, ), and ego depletion (Lin & Johnson, ). Zacher et al .…”

Time pressure and proactive work behaviour: A week‐level study on intraindividual fluctuations and reciprocal relationships

“…Time pressure has – in theory – been discussed both as a facilitator and as a consequence of PWB (e.g., Frese & Fay, ). While several studies have investigated time pressure as a potential facilitator of PWB (e.g., Fritz & Sonnentag, ; Ohly & Fritz, ; Prem, Paškvan, Kubicek, & Korunka, ), research that investigates time pressure as a consequence of PWB is scarce (i.e., Fay & Hüttges, , who investigated daily work overload). We address this research gap and propose that PWB – due to its resource‐consuming nature – is positively related to experiencing subsequent time pressure.…”

“…At the same time, it has also been acknowledged that behaving proactively is likely to consume resources by itself, first and foremost time and energy (e.g., Bolino et al ., ; Ng & Feldman, ). Accordingly, first empirical studies show that PWB is associated with higher levels of job strain (Strauss et al ., ), emotional exhaustion (Pingel et al ., ; Zacher et al ., ), and daily cortisol levels (Fay & Hüttges, ). In line with these results, we propose that showing PWBs may actually contribute to experiencing higher levels of stressors at work.…”