Making things happen : the role of affect for proactive behaviours at work.

In this thesis, I investigate how affective experience influences proactivity at work. Proactivity is a special type of goal-directed behaviour in which individuals actively take charge of situations to bring about change in a future-focused way for themselves or their organisation. Firstly, I draw on self-regulation research to conceptualise and empirically validate a model of proactive goal regulation that comprises employees' efforts in setting a proactive goal (envisioning), preparing to implement their proactive goal (planning), implementing their proactive goal (enacting) and engaging in learning processes concerning the outcomes of their proactive goal (reflecting). Secondly, I draw on affect research to argue that different types of work-related moods and emotions have an impact on the elements of proactive goal regulation in important ways. I investigate the relationship between affective experience and proactive goal regulation in three empirical studies: In Study 1, I use a cross-sectional survey design to investigate the role of moods for work-related proactive goal regulation in a study of call centre employees (N=227). In Study 2, I replicate and extend findings from Study 1 in the context of career-relatedp roactive goal regulation.S pecifically, I draw on longitudinal surveys of undergraduatem edical students( N=250) over four time pointsa crosst he academicy ear in order to test how moodsa ndc areer-relatedp roactive goal regulation are related over time. In Study 3, I employ a qualitative interview approach in a sample of call centre employees (N=39) to explore the role of emotions in employees' accounts of past proactive goal regulation. The findings of this thesis provide initial empirical support for the model of proactive goal regulation. Results also indicate that work-related moods and emotions are significant predictors of proactive goal regulation and that the role of affective experience for proactivity at work is more nuanced than previously assumed

Work-related proactivity through the lens of narrative: investigating emotional journeys in the process of making things happen

Organizations benefit from proactive employees who initiate improvements at work. Although evidence suggests happy employees are more likely to become proactive, the emotional journeys employees take during the process of making things happen, and their implications for future proactivity at work, remain unclear. To develop an understanding of patterns of emotions in the process of proactivity, I conducted a qualitative study based on 92 proactivity episodes by employees and their managers in the service centre of a multinational organization. Findings, through the lens of narrative, indicate that emotional journeys in proactivity took different forms. First, a proactivity-as-frustration narrative captured individuals’ emotional patterns of proactivity as a consistently unpleasant action when initiated and seen through. Second, a proactivity-as-threat narrative captured instances of proactivity that derailed at the onset, owing to feelings of fear. Third, a proactivity-as-growth narrative, although initially characterized by negative emotions, gave way to feelings such as excitement, joy and pride in the process, as well as to sustained motivation to engage in proactivity. Overall, findings of this research show that as employees embark in showing initiative in their organization, they are set on different emotional paths that, in turn, likely impact their future willingness to become proactive at work

Service quality and satisfaction: an international comparison of professional services perceptions

Purpose – This study aims to examine the applicability of key measures of service quality and customer satisfaction in a cross-cultural setting, first establishing measurement equivalence and then investigating the impact of culture on these measures. Design/methodology/approach – Using scenarios involving a visit to the dentist's office, respondents from Germany, Japan, and the USA participated in a 2 × 2 factorial experiment in which the authors manipulated both expectations (low/high) and service performance (low/high). Findings – Regardless of expectations, when performance was low, the low-context respondents (USA and Germany) perceived lower quality than did the respondents from the high-context country (Japan), but gave higher quality ratings than did the Japanese respondents when the performance was high. Practical implications – The findings of this study highlight the necessity of considering culture when interpreting customer satisfaction ratings. Originality/value – This research adds credence to the paramount role culture plays in consumers' ratings of perceived service quality and customer satisfaction

Making things happen : a model of proactive motivation

Being proactive is about making things happen, anticipating and preventing problems, and seizing opportunities. It involves self-initiated efforts to bring about change in the work environment and/or oneself to achieve a different future. The authors develop existing perspectives on this topic by identifying proactivity as a goal-driven process involving both the setting of a proactive goal (proactive goal generation) and striving to achieve that proactive goal (proactive goal striving). The authors identify a range of proactive goals that individuals can pursue in organizations. These vary on two dimensions: the future they aim to bring about (achieving a better personal fit within one’s work environment, improving the organization’s internal functioning, or enhancing the organization’s strategic fit with its environment) and whether the self or situation is being changed. The authors then identify “can do,” “reason to,” and “energized to” motivational states that prompt proactive goal generation and sustain goal striving. Can do motivation arises from perceptions of self-efficacy, control, and (low) cost. Reason to motivation relates to why someone is proactive, including reasons flowing from intrinsic, integrated, and identified motivation. Energized to motivation refers to activated positive affective states that prompt proactive goal processes. The authors suggest more distal antecedents, including individual differences (e.g., personality, values, knowledge and ability) as well as contextual variations in leadership, work design, and interpersonal climate, that influence the proactive motivational states and thereby boost or inhibit proactive goal processes. Finally, the authors summarize priorities for future researc

Proactive work behavior: forward-thinking and change-oriented action in organizations

/O Psychology is both a science/practice and an applied/basic research discipline. Appropriately, the APA Handbook of Industrial and Organizational Psychology offers an in-depth examination of the types of behavioral and structural issues that I/O psychologists study every day, from both a theoretical and applied perspective. It explores a natural progression, from how problems are diagnosed to how research is conducted to generate answers to those problems to how interventions are implemented and, finally, to how they are evaluated. It examines what is currently known—including basic historical reviews—and identifies the most pertinent sources of information in both the core and emerging literatures. It pinpoints practical issues, probes unresolved and controversial topics, and looks at future theoretical, research, and practice trends..