When proactivity goes bad

Someone with a proactive personality tends to engage in self-starting, future-oriented behaviour that goes beyond role requirements (Bateman & Crant 1993). Many studies have shown that employees with proactive personalities behave in ways that provide considerable benefits to their employer organisation (Crant 1995; Seibert, et al. 2001). However, to date there has been little attention to the risks associated with proactivity. New evidence is described that casts doubt over the prevailing assumption that employee proactivity is universally beneficial for an organisation. Under some situations, proactive employees may be more likely to engage in counterproductive work behaviours. Another study has just concluded that uses experimental methodology to examine the impact of personality along with job autonomy, organisational constraints and psychological contract breach, upon a range of work behaviours. Together, these studies will provide an indication of how to utilise the benefits of proactive employees while also managing the risks.