The role of attachment styles in shaping proactive behaviour: An intra-individual analysis

Chiahuei Wu, Sharon Parker

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

21 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Focusing on the intra-individual variation of proactive behaviour, the authors propose that curiosity, core self-evaluations (CSE), and future orientation are states that influence proactive behaviour at a given time at the within-individual level, and these within-individual associations are moderated by attachment styles at the between-individual level. For a sample of Taiwanese students (N= 58), the results showed that monthly curiosity, CSE, and future orientation positively predicted monthly proactive behaviour, but these within-individual associations were different depending on an individual's relationship anxiety in attachment. People high in relationship anxiety tend to behave proactively to approach future goals at a given time, but cannot rely on their self-evaluations to foster the proactive action at the same time, revealing an ambivalent attitude towards proactive behaviour.
Practitioner Points

1
Strengthening an individual's states of curiosity, positive self-evaluations, and future orientation can help to enhance his/her proactive behaviour at a given time.
2
People who worry about their social relationships are reluctant to rely on their positive self-evaluation at a given time to engage in proactive behaviour at that time.
3
Cultivating a positive social environment is helpful to enhance an individual's proactive behaviour, especially for people who worry about their social relationships.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)523-530
JournalJournal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology
Volume84
Issue number3
Early online date17 Nov 2011
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 3 Jul 2012

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