When there is a will there is a way: The role of proactive personality in combating COVID-19.

Abstract

The global COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted personal and work lives and created great uncertainty and stress, especially for frontline health care professionals like doctors and nurses who risk personal health while facing increased workloads and new COVID-related tasks. People can passively respond to this disruption, or they can be more active and choose to shape the conditions surrounding their work during the crisis. We designed a multiwave, multisource study examining whether a proactive orientation is a key resource for frontline health care professionals in the COVID-19 pandemic. Drawing from proactive and conservation of resources theories, we studied a sample of 408 doctors and nurses at a COVID-19 hospital in the locked-down area surrounding Wuhan City, China during the first wave of the virus. Our aim is to examine how personal agency contributes to health care professionals' performance and well-being when combating COVID-19. Proactive personality as a dispositional resource was associated with higher levels of perceived strengths use, a job-related motivational resource. This effect was jointly moderated by routine disruption and perceived organizational support. Proactive personality was indirectly associated with performance and two indicators of well-being (resilience and thriving) through perceived strengths use. More frequent physical exposure to the virus magnified the effects of perceived strengths use on an archival indicator of performance during the first wave of the pandemic.

How workplace support for the COVID‐19 pandemic and personality traits affect changes in employees' affective commitment to the organization and job‐related well‐being

“…Third, while core self‐evaluations and future focus are important personality traits, other traits are potentially also important in terms of how support affects job‐related well‐being. Research has, for instance, found that the interplay between perceived organizational support and proactive personality matters for individual outcomes during the pandemic (Yi‐Feng Chen et al, 2021 ). Future research could explore additional personality traits that are likely to affect how employees experience organizational and managerial support.…”

“…For instance, Lee and Jeung ( 2018 ) find that perceived organizational support is more important in stimulating affective commitment to the organization for employees with a low status than for those with a high status in the organization. Yi‐Feng Chen et al ( 2021 ) also highlight the importance of considering personality traits as they find in a sample of front line health care professionals working during the COVID‐19 pandemic that proactive personality interacts with perceived organizational support to influence well‐being outcomes (i.e., thriving).…”

Eminence of Leader Humility for Follower Creativity During COVID-19: The Role of Self-Efficacy and Proactive Personality

“…A proactive personality secures the psychological resources under stressful COVID-19 conditions (Yi-Feng Chen et al, 2021). Proactive personality is a process by which individual influences the environment (Bateman and Crant, 1993).…”

“…Taking together, the proactive personalities of leader and follower enhance job satisfaction (Zhang et al, 2012). Proactive personality is positively related to motivational resources even in COVID-19 crises (Yi-Feng Chen et al, 2021). Prior studies have recommended that a leader's proactive personality can be a boundary condition (Chiu et al, 2016;Wang and Liang, 2020).…”

Adaptive Managers as Emerging Leaders During the COVID-19 Crisis

“…For instance, a study by Zacher and Rudolph (2021) collected data from 979 individuals in Germany and found that individual differences in life satisfaction, positive affect, and negative affect result in different types and levels of coping strategies during the COVID-19 crisis (e.g., controllability appraisals, positive reframing, using emotional support, self-blame). Furthermore, utilizing a sample of 408 doctors and nurses in Wuhan City, China, another study by Yi-Feng Chen et al (2021) found that proactive personality tends to influence one's performance, resilience, and thriving through strengths use during the COVID-19 crisis. Such findings from multiple countries emphasize the importance of individual differences and its persistence in coping with the COVID-19 crisis.…”