Proactive Personality

Proactive personality refers to a personal disposition toward proactive behavior or taking action to influence one’s environment. People with proactive personalities scan their environments for opportunities, show initiative, and persevere until they bring about change. They attempt to exert control over their work environments and prefer to shape circumstances rather than adapt to them.

Proactive personality has received attention from researchers and practitioners for two main reasons. First, it is associated with important attitudinal and behavioral outcomes at the workplace (e.g., job performance and career success). Second, the new workplace requires proactivity in the forms of change-oriented behaviors, initiative taking, creative problem solving, and innovation in systems, structures, and relationships.

Proactive people believe that they have the power, will, and resources to change the environment; therefore, they ...