From Passive to Proactive Motivation: The Importance of Flexible Role Orientations and Role Breadth Self‐efficacy

Abstract

Despite the widely held belief that a proactive workforce is necessary for competitive advantage, research investigating how to assess and promote such change is limited. Two potentially important precursors to proactivity include flexible role orientation (FRO) and role breadth self‐efficacy (RBSE). These concepts have been shown to have construct validity and to be distinct from related dispositional variables, but their discriminant validity in terms of outcome variables has not been demonstrated. In this article, I show that FRO and RBSE are factorially distinct from outcomes commonly used in organisational research (job satisfaction, organisational commitment, and job strain). I also show that, as expected, the proactive motivation and traditional outcome variables have different relationships with various predictor variables. I outline the study implications, and suggest a broader research agenda on proactive motivation.