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Researchers in psychology use the concept of proactive personality (PAP) to measure an individual's propensity to take actions to try improve the working environment or to create new ones. Individuals who have strong PAP are constantly looking for what they see as better ways to do things and actively championing their ideas, even in the face of strong opposition from others. Individuals differ in their propensities to exhibit such "proactive behaviors". Researchers agree that not all proactive behaviors are desirable and that misguided proactive behavior could lead to negative outcomes. However, as Prof David Chan from the SESS found out in a recent review of the published literature, research on PAP tends to document only its positive effects and neglect the negative ones. In fact, most of these studies have either explicitly stated or implicitly assumed that a high level of PAP is more desirable than a low level. Prof Chan challenges the assumption that PAP will always lead to positive work perceptions and work outcomes. He argues that ind ividual differences in situational judgment effectiveness (SJE) in fact play a critical role in this regard. SJE refers to the general ability of an individual to make a good judgment of the surrounding situation and to respond effectively to the practical situational demands. Prof Chan explains it is the interaction bet wee n SJE and PAP that determines whether a worker will have positive or negative work perceptions (perceived supervisor support, procedural justice perceptions, social integration) and work outcomes (job performance, job satisfaction, affective organizational commitment). Specifically, strong PAP leads to positive work perceptions and work outcomes only when SJE level is high but negative work perceptions and outcomes if SJE is low. His recent study using data from a sample of actual employees in Singapore (" Interactive effects of situational judgment effectiveness and proactive personality on work perceptions and work outcomes ," forthcoming in Journal of Applied Psychology ) provides strong support for this hypothesis. According to Prof Chan, there is nothing inherently adaptive or positive in the conceptual definition of PAP or that of proactive behavior. "Proactive behaviors may be maladaptive if they are not pursued realistically or effectively in relation to the situational demands or constraints", he added. As an illustration, he argues that because of their inability to accurately identify, understand and effectively respond to the practical demands and constraints at the work place, high PAP individuals who are low on SJE are more likely to develop unrealistic expectations and demands about the working environment that cannot be met. As a result, they are more likely to interpret the way decisions are made (or the way things are done) at the work place as unfair processes, which in turn explains why they often score lowly in "procedural justice perception" and "perceived supervisor support". Because of their inappropriate actions and reactions, these individuals are more likely to be perceived by their co-workers and supervisor as workers who actively engage in unconstructive criticism, cynical comments, unproductive protests, unjustified complaints, tactless disagreements, or other forms of insensitive, inconsiderate and ineffective actions. Not surprisingly, they are less likely to develop good personal relationships with co-workers or feel a sense of "social integration" at work. They are also more likely to be evaluated negatively by their supervisors. Over time, with constant experiences of unmet expectations, negative work perceptions, and negative evaluations of their job and work situation in the organization, these individuals enjoy little "job satisfaction" and show little "affective organizational commitment". Conversely, individuals who are high on SJE and PAP are more likely to act in an appropriate and productive manner as they seek to effect changes. They are more likely to do well in procedural justice perception, perceived supervisor support, social integration and supervisory assessment of job performance. Over time, with constant experiences of fulfilled expectations, positive work perceptions, and positive evaluations of their job and work situation in the organization, these individuals are more likely to attain high levels of job satisfaction and affective organizational commitment. Meanwhile, workers who have high SJE but low PAP are less likely to engage in proactive behaviors even though they have the ability to identify the relevant situational demands. Prof Chan concludes that understanding an individual's SJE, not just his PAP, is crucial in prediction his or her work perceptions and work outcomes. These research findings have important conceptual and practical implications. They imply that a high level of PAP may be either "adaptive" or "maladaptive" depending on the individual's SJE level. Thus it may not be meaningful and may even be misleading to postulate a simple association between PAP and work-related performance criteria without at the same time considering the individual's SJE level. "I t may not be prudent for organizations to simply select applicants based on their PAP levels," said Prof Chan. Prof Chan, who joined SESS in July this year, is currently working on a SMU-funded research project that examines the precise affective, cognitive, motivational, and behavioral mechanisms that underlie the nature of SJE and its effects. His works on SJE have been published and cited extensively in journals, handbooks, and encyclopedias. Prof Chan has received numerous research awards and he is the first non-American to receive the prestigious Distinguished Early Career Contributions Award from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology. |