Mastery and helpless responses to proactivity setbacks: The role of implicit person theory = 面對主動性行為挫折的控制型及無助型反應: 內隱人格理論的作用
Project title
Mastery and helpless responses to proactivity setbacks: The role of implicit person theory = 面對主動性行為挫折的控制型及無助型反應: 內隱人格理論的作用
Principal Investigator
Department
Grant Awarding Body
Research Grants Council
Grant Type
Faculty Development Scheme
Project Code
UGC/FDS15/B09/23
Amount awarded
HK$848,225
Funding Year
2023-2024
Duration of the Project
24 months
Status
On-going
Abstract
Employees are expected to proactively improve deficient processes and address issues caused by the increasing unpredictability and uncertainty of workplaces. It is also found that such proactive work behaviors are important to ensure workplace effectiveness (Campbell, 2000; Carpini, Parker & Griffin, 2017; Frese & Fay, 2001; Parker, 2000). However, employee proactivity research focuses on the motivational states that drive employees to proactively initiate change but pays little attention to the setbacks that they may encounter in doing so. We know little about why some employees who encounter proactivity setbacks attempt to overcome them, whereas others do not. That is, why do some employees regard proactivity setbacks as energizing their goal-regulation processes, whereas others regard them as inhibiting their goal regulation processes? The proposed project will answer this important question because this difference determines the ultimate success or failure of the proactive endeavor.
Based on an integration of the proactive goal-regulation model with implicit person theory, we argue that employees may exhibit either mastery or helpless responses to proactivity setbacks, depending on what kind of implicit person theory they hold. Specifically, employees who hold an incremental implicit person theory are likely to engage in mastery reflection on proactivity setbacks, which sustains their proactive efforts to envision, plan, and enact their goals. By contrast, employees who hold an entity implicit person theory are likely to engage in helpless reflection on setbacks, which leads them to decrease their proactive efforts to envision, plan, and enact their goals. Therefore, the type of reflection engaged in by employees dictates whether they continue changing or taking on challenges. We will examine these arguments in two experimental studies and a field weekly diary study. We will also conduct studies to develop a measurement scale for proactivity setback, which is newly developed in this research.
Overall, we have identified a major gap in current proactivity research: a lack of understanding on proactivity setbacks and how employees’ responses to them affect employees’ proactive goal-regulation process. In this proposed project, we extend the employee proactivity literature by conceptualizing proactivity setback based on the proactive goal-regulation model and two forms of reflection based on the implicit person theories to examine the dynamic relationships between the proactive goal regulatory activities. Theoretically, this work delineates employees’ differential responses to proactivity setback, and shed light on proactivity literature concerning how to make effective proactivity resiliently. Practically, this work will provide an evidence-based guidance on facilitating and nurturing employees’ proactive goal-regulation through cultivating an incremental implicit person theory and facilitating mastery reflections in employees. These insights can be integrated in employee/manager training and organizational culture development programs to benefit employees, managers, organizations, and communities.
Based on an integration of the proactive goal-regulation model with implicit person theory, we argue that employees may exhibit either mastery or helpless responses to proactivity setbacks, depending on what kind of implicit person theory they hold. Specifically, employees who hold an incremental implicit person theory are likely to engage in mastery reflection on proactivity setbacks, which sustains their proactive efforts to envision, plan, and enact their goals. By contrast, employees who hold an entity implicit person theory are likely to engage in helpless reflection on setbacks, which leads them to decrease their proactive efforts to envision, plan, and enact their goals. Therefore, the type of reflection engaged in by employees dictates whether they continue changing or taking on challenges. We will examine these arguments in two experimental studies and a field weekly diary study. We will also conduct studies to develop a measurement scale for proactivity setback, which is newly developed in this research.
Overall, we have identified a major gap in current proactivity research: a lack of understanding on proactivity setbacks and how employees’ responses to them affect employees’ proactive goal-regulation process. In this proposed project, we extend the employee proactivity literature by conceptualizing proactivity setback based on the proactive goal-regulation model and two forms of reflection based on the implicit person theories to examine the dynamic relationships between the proactive goal regulatory activities. Theoretically, this work delineates employees’ differential responses to proactivity setback, and shed light on proactivity literature concerning how to make effective proactivity resiliently. Practically, this work will provide an evidence-based guidance on facilitating and nurturing employees’ proactive goal-regulation through cultivating an incremental implicit person theory and facilitating mastery reflections in employees. These insights can be integrated in employee/manager training and organizational culture development programs to benefit employees, managers, organizations, and communities.