Proactivity at Work

Abstract

Abstract. We propose that two aspects of leadership, perceived respectful leadership and the degree of leaders’ prototypicality, positively affect employee proactivity. A multisource and multilevel field study of 234 employees supervised by 62 leaders shows that respectful leadership relates positively to employee proactivity in terms of personal initiative and that leader group prototypicality diminishes this effect. Moreover, perceived respectful leadership and prototypicality substitute for one another in their relation to follower proactivity. This study contributes to previous research that shows leader–follower relationships enhance proactivity by showing the impact of perceived respectful leadership and leader group prototypicality.

Exploring Mechanisms From Leader Consideration and Information Sharing to Follower Behavior

“…Third, leader consideration was confirmed to have a positive relationship with follower proactive behavior, consistent with previous results (e.g., Chang et al, 2022; Vogt et al, 2021). However, information sharing had no direct effect.…”

“…Leaders who provide support, close relationships, and a psychologically safe work environment enable followers to demonstrate proactive behaviors, such as voice, innovation, and taking charge (Chang et al, 2022). Leaders who treat followers respectfully, with honesty and politeness, and recognize their core needs positively affect follower proactivity (Vogt et al, 2021) Followers who receive appropriate information from a leader perceive themselves as belonging to the organization and feel attached to the organization (Baumeister & Leary, 1995). Leaders' information sharing behavior shows that leaders have a close relationship with their followers, which motivates them to engage in more proactive behavior within the organization.…”

“…Leaders who provide support, close relationships, and a psychologically safe work environment enable followers to demonstrate proactive behaviors, such as voice, innovation, and taking charge (Chang et al, 2022). Leaders who treat followers respectfully, with honesty and politeness, and recognize their core needs positively affect follower proactivity (Vogt et al, 2021). Parker et al (2019) reviewed 95 papers that studied proactive behavior and organized the factors influencing individual proactivity into three categories.…”

Linking empowering leadership with workplace proactivity: the mediating role of psychological safety and knowledge sharing

“…For this reason, employees' interaction with their leaders can influence their perception, attitude and values, which might influence the motivational processes and may increase or decrease employees' proactive behavior at workplace. For example, respectful leadership (Vogt et al, 2021), empowering leadership (Jiang et al, 2021;JH Coun et al, 2021) and transformational leadership (Wu and Wang, 2015) proactive work behavior. Empowering leadership is an emerging and subordinate focused leadership style that shares power with subordinates and provides motivational and developmental support (Amundsen and Martinsen, 2014).…”

“…For this reason, employees' interaction with their leaders can influence their perception, attitude and values, which might influence the motivational processes and may increase or decrease employees' proactive behavior at workplace. For example, respectful leadership (Vogt et al. , 2021), empowering leadership (Jiang et al.…”