Home Life Can Impact Proactive Behavior at Work
Companies want to encourage proactive behavior in employees. Proactive behavior refers to self-initiated engagement to take control of situations at work and create change. This type of behavior is extremely important in today’s competitive workforce. What makes some employees show proactive behavior one day but not another? This could be impacted by what happens once employees leave work. Research in the Journal of Applied Psychology. examined this question by looking at how off-job experiences can impact proactive behavior at work the following day.
The researchers explored five different after-work activities to examine if they were followed by more proactive behaviors the next day. These activities include: off-job mastery (learning or challenge opportunities such as volunteering or sports), off-job agency (ability to schedule own leisure time), off-job relaxation (through meditation or listening to music to unwind), off-job detachment (avoiding thoughts about work-related problems and duties), and finally off-job hassles (extra stress such as chores).
The researchers hypothesized that the type of motivation state depends on the off-job experience. Of motivational states considered was positive affect (i.e., good mood). One type of positive affect called high-activation creates an energizing, driving feeling. Low-activation results in a more relaxed, peaceful feeling. The researchers hypothesized that high-activation would be associated with more proactive behavior as a result of energy and drive.
The researchers found that not all off-jobs experiences enabled proactive behavior. Off-job mastery related to role breadth self-efficacy and high activated positive affect the next morning. Off-job agency related to role breadth self-efficacy and desire for control. These motivation states were associated with proactive behavior during the following workday. Off-job hassles created less high-activated positive affect. This led to less proactive behavior. Off-job relaxation and off-job detachment were related to low-activated positive affect motivation state. This did not result in proactive behavior.