The trigger mechanism of individual improvisation needs further research. Based on social cognitive theory and job characteristics model theory, this paper establishes the relationship model between proactive personality and individual improvisation, regarding self-efficacy as a mediator and job autonomy as a moderator. Through regression analysis of 298 samples, the results show that proactive personality is positively related to individual improvisation, and self-efficacy plays a role of intermediary mechanism in this relationship. Besides, we also find out that job autonomy has a regulatory effect on the relationship between self-efficacy and individual improvisation. This research provides a reference for arousing and managing individual improvisation.
Faced with the uncertainty, variability and ambiguity of the economic environment, organizations will face multiple development obstacles in accordance with fully formal plans and scheduled arrangements. Therefore, organizations need to adopt flexible, improvisational and fast actions to respond to various exceptions or grasp instantaneous opportunities [
As the foundation of organizational improvisation, individual improvisation can drive organization to change through employee practice [
In view of this, this paper intends to investigate the effect of proactive personality on individual improvisation and the role mechanism of self-efficacy and job autonomy. Specifically, the theoretical contributions of this paper are as follows: Firstly, this study supplements previous research and explores the most fundamental influencing factor of improvisation from the personality trait perspective. Secondly, according to the social cognitive theory and job characteristics model theory, we research the intrinsic black box and boundary condition of the influence of proactive personality on employee improvisational behavior. This paper systematically analyzes the influence of personality trait on individual improvisation in order to provide useful guidance for enterprises to better manage and utilize employee improvisation.
Improvisation first appeared in jazz and theater performance, then Weick (1998) [
Hypothesis 1: Proactive personality will be positively related to individual improvisation.
As an important part of social cognitive theory [
Hypothesis 2: Proactive personality will be positively related to self-efficacy.
According to social cognitive theory, individuals with high self-efficacy have strong self-confidence and motivation for their choices, and stimulate individual to produce target behavior through internal self-motivation [
Hypothesis 3: Self-efficacy will be positively related to individual improvisation.
Consistent with theories of personal control, more proactive individuals should have a greater sense of self-determination and self-efficacy in their work lives [
Hypothesis 4: Self-efficacy will mediate the relationship of proactive personality and individual improvisation.
Job autonomy refers to the degree to which the job provides substantial freedom, independence, and discretion to the individual in scheduling the work and in determining the procedures to be used in carrying it out [
Hypothesis 5: Job Autonomy and Self-efficacy have interaction effect on Individual Improvisation.
Therefore, employees with high proactive personality have a stronger environmental control perception which resulting in a higher self-efficacy. In the case of higher job autonomy, self-efficacy can promote employee improvisation. The theoretical model of this study is shown in
Participants were organization employees from a high-tech industrial zone in Henan Province. The data was collected by questionnaires. In order to ensure the authenticity of the information, we made a commitment that the data is only used for academic research and personal privacy will not be revealed, all respondents volunteered to participate in the survey. We distributed 340 questionnaires, after eliminating invalid and incomplete data, 298 valid questionnaires were returned, and recovery rate was 87.64%.
The selection of the measurement indicators influences the reliability and validity of the final survey data. Therefore, we drew on the maturity scales of relevant variables abroad and made necessary revisions. As a result, these items were designed in the form of 7-point Likert scales, and respondents are required to rate the Chinese items, rating from 1 = strongly disagree to 7 = strongly agree.
Proactive personality. We adapted Parker’s (1998) [
Self-efficacy. We used the general self-efficacy scale, which offered by Schwarzer’s (1997) [
Demographic characteristics | Unweighted n’s | Weighted Percentages | |
---|---|---|---|
Gender | Male | 126 | 42.3% |
Female | 172 | 57.7% | |
Age | <25 | 52 | 17.5% |
25 - 35 | 188 | 63.1% | |
>35 | 58 | 19.4% | |
Education | associate degree or below | 54 | 18.1% |
Bachelor’s degree | 152 | 51.1% | |
Master’s degree or above | 92 | 30.8% | |
Staff Type | technology | 132 | 44.3% |
sales | 57 | 19.2% | |
management | 38 | 12.6% | |
others | 71 | 23.9% | |
Service Years | ≤1 | 75 | 25.2% |
2 - 3 | 80 | 26.8% | |
4 - 5 | 48 | 16.1% | |
6 - 9 | 53 | 17.8% | |
≥10 | 42 | 14.1% |
Notes: N = 298.
Individual Improvisation. We employed Vera & Crossan (2005) [
Job autonomy. We applied Spreitzer’s (1995) [
Control variables. In the present study, we developed three control variables in order to minimize the interference of exogenous variables, including participants’ age, education, and service years.
Using SPSS 22.0 and AMOS 23.0 data analysis software to analyze the data of the study. First, we verified the reliability and validity of the scale by confirmatory factor analysis. Secondly, we employed descriptive statistical analysis and hierarchical analysis method to prove the main effect and the mediation effect, then using the boot-strapping method to further test the mediating effect of self-efficacy. Finally, we test the regulatory effect of job autonomy using hierarchical regression analysis method, and drawn the interactive effect figure.
In order to measure the reliability and validity of latent variable scales, we performed factor analysis on the data. The results of the KMO values of four latent variables (proactive personality, self-efficacy, individual improvisation, job autonomy) were 0.909, 0.933, 0.917, and 0.753, which indicated that scales were suitable for factor analysis. Cronbach’s alpha, as the reliability coefficient, are greater than 0.8, which represented that the questionnaire has favorable reliability. The factor loading were all above 0.6, which means well structural validity. Using Amos 23.0 software to develop confirmatory factor analysis on sample data. From the results in
Model | Factor | χ2/df | RMSEA | IFI | CFI | TLI |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Four-factor model | PP, SE, JA, II | 2.978 | 0.082 | 0.913 | 0.913 | 0.903 |
Three-factor model | PP, SE + JA, II | 3.340 | 0.102 | 0.832 | 0.850 | 0.826 |
Two-factor model | PP + SE + JA, II | 3.870 | 0.113 | 0.753 | 0.723 | 0.630 |
Single factor model | PP + SE + JA + II | 4.235 | 0.137 | 0.712 | 0.712 | 0.605 |
Notes: PP = Proactive Personality, SE = Self-efficacy, JA = Job Autonomy, II = Individual Improvisation.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1. Age | 1.000 | ||||||
2. Education | 0.061 | 1.000 | |||||
3. Service Years | 0.654** | 0.300*** | 1.000 | ||||
4. Proactive Personality | 0.108 | −0.123* | 0.057 | 1.000 | |||
5. Self-efficacy | 0.088 | −0.080 | 0.025 | 0.549*** | 1.000 | ||
6. Job Autonomy | 0.058 | −0.088 | −0.048 | 0.681*** | 0.638*** | 1.000 | |
7. Improvisation | 0.132 | −0.117* | 0.075 | 0.753*** | 0.617*** | 0.632*** | 1.000 |
Mean | 1.340 | 2.150 | 1.690 | 5.175 | 4.764 | 5.015 | 5.077 |
SD | 0.768 | 0.728 | 0.729 | 1.024 | 1.162 | 1.309 | 1.042 |
Notes: Notes: N = 298,***P < 0.001; **P < 0.01; *P < 0.05.
and employee self-efficacy also had a significantly positive correlation(r = 0.549, p < 0.001), supporting hypothesis 2; self-efficacy can positively influence employee Improvisation (r = 0.617, p < 0.001), and hypothesis 3 was proved. Job autonomy was also positively correlated with employee Improvisation (r = 0.632, p < 0.001), it provided a basis for further regulation effect analysis.
To further test and verify the intermediary role of self-efficacy, we applied the boot-strapping approach to examine its significance again. Results (see
As a result,
The regulatory effect of job autonomy is shown in
estimates effect | 95% CI | |
---|---|---|
Direct effects | ||
Proactive Personality ® Individual Improvisation | 0,59*** | [0.257, 0.544] |
Proactive Personality ® Self-efficacy | 0.39*** | [0.323, 0.516] |
Self-efficacy ® Individual Improvisation | 0.39*** | [0.271, 0.464] |
Indirect effects | ||
Proactive Personality ® Self-efficacy ® Individual Improvisation | 0.15** | [0.108, 0.253] |
Notes: N = 298, ***P < 0.001; **P < 0.01; *P < 0.05.
Model 3, it can be seen that the coefficient of interaction between self-efficacy and job autonomy is significant (β = 0.064, p < 0.05), so Hypothesis 5 is verified. This study draws the relationship between self-efficacy and employee improvisation under different job autonomy levels in
The improvisation of employees is extremely important in the field of organizational
Dependent variable | Individual Improvisation | ||
---|---|---|---|
Model | Model 1 | Model 2 | Model 3 |
Age | 0.027 | 0.065 | 0.061 |
Education | 0.016 | 0.054 | 0.042 |
Service Years | 0.165 | 0.061 | 0.054 |
Self-efficacy | 0.471*** | 0.461*** | |
Job Autonomy | 0.321*** | 0.353*** | |
Self-efficacy × Job Autonomy | 0.064* | ||
R2 | 0.019 | 0.485 | 0.492 |
ΔR2 | 0.466 | 0.007 | |
F | 1.870 | 55.069*** | 47.054*** |
ΔF | 45.740*** | 4.077* |
Notes: ***P < 0.001; **P < 0.01; *P < 0.05.
management. Facing the uncertainty of the environment, the individual improvisation can bring innovation and get rid of the difficulties for organization. This study combines social cognitive theory and job characteristics model theory. Based on the previous studies, self-efficacy is used as a mediator and job autonomy as a moderator. From the perspective of psychological resources, this paper studies the relationship between proactive personality and employee improvisation relationship. The main conclusions are as follows: proactive personality positively affects employee’s improvisational behavior; self-efficacy plays a partial intermediary role between proactive personality and employee improvisational behavior; job autonomy can strengthen the relationship between self-efficacy and employee improvisation behavior.
The theoretical contributions of this article are as follows. First, our research extends the research on the antecedent variables of individual improvisational behaviors. Through empirical research, we find that proactive personality traits play an active role in influencing employees’ improvisational behaviors. Individuals with proactive personality are not bound by the environment and adept in discovering opportunities, then generating positive improvisations to change the environment. Secondly, previous studies found that self-efficacy plays a mediating role in the influence mechanism of proactive personality on individual behavior. This paper regards self-efficacy as a mediator to construct a intermediary path that “proactive personality-self-efficacy-individual improvisation”. This intermediary path reveals the internal mechanism of the influence of proactive personality on employee improvisation behavior, that is, the individuals with high proactive personality generate the higher self-confidence of self-ability, and are more likely to generate behavioral motivation and the improvisational behavior. Finally, this study confirms that job autonomy plays a regulatory role in the process of self-efficacy-driven improvisation, it provides a new theoretical basis for the organization to give employees more autonomy. It is of great significance to promote work autonomy theory and the development of work design practice.
Our study has various important implications for practice. First, the evaluation of the personality traits and psychological characteristics of candidates should be highly valued. In order to cope with the uncertainty and variability of the environment, enterprises need to evaluate the proactive personality traits of employees in the recruitment, select employees with high initiative and self-efficacy, and achieve matching between people and posts. Secondly, enterprises should pay attention to the cultivation and management of employees’ self-efficacy in the usual management, improve the ability and quality of employees through training, strengthen the self-motivation education of employees, and formulate more scientific and effective incentive mechanisms. Finally, organizations should increase environmental autonomy, especially work methods and workplace autonomy, so that employees can choose the solution to the problem more independently and have full freedom to play and Improvise.
The expecting findings from the present study also have several limitations which should take into consider. First, the empirical data used in this study is the static data of the cross-section. It cannot fully reflect the dynamic relationship between self-efficacy and employee Improvisation. Therefore, future research can try to use vertical data and time series data to study the dynamic relationship. Secondly, this study focuses on individual improvisation from the perspectives of individual personality traits and work characteristics, while the influencing factors also include other individual psychological factors and organizational support factors, we should pay attention to those factors. Third, in this study, only the intermediary mechanism of self-efficacy was verified, there are other possible mechanisms or regulatory factors waiting to be explored.
In this paper, we used 298 samples to examine our hypotheses. Through confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) and multilevel modeling analyses, we found that proactive personality will be positively related to individual improvisation, and self-efficacy partly mediates the relationship of them. Meanwhile, job autonomy and self-efficacy have an interaction effect on individual Improvisation. These findings are helpful in managing and utilizing employee improvisation, that is, enterprises need to select employees with high initiative and self-efficacy to cope with the uncertainty and variability of the environment; meanwhile, organizations should increase environmental autonomy, which can encourage more improvisational behaviors. In the future, we encourage a further exploration about the topic.
The authors declare no conflicts of interest regarding the publication of this paper.
Wu, X.H. and Ma, Y.Q. (2019) The Effect of Proactive Personality on Individual Improvisation: The Moderating Role of Job Autonomy. Open Journal of Social Sciences, 7, 178-190. https://doi.org/10.4236/jss.2019.74015