Proactive personality and innovative behavior: A moderated mediation model

Abstract

A 2 time-point survey was used to examine the mediating mechanism and boundary conditions through which proactive personality affects graduate students' innovative behavior. Results revealed that a proactive personality positively affected the innovative behavior of the students; feedback seeking mediated the influence of proactive personality on innovative behavior, and academic self-efficacy moderated the relationship between proactive personality and innovative behavior through feedback seeking. Namely, when graduate students' academic self-efficacy is high, for those with a proactive personality there is a stronger positive influence on their innovative behavior through feedback seeking. When graduate students' academic self-efficacy is low, a proactive personality has a weaker positive impact on their innovative behavior through feedback seeking. In this study we have, therefore, established a new mediating mechanism and boundary conditions through which proactive personality influences innovative behavior and have expanded existing innovation theory. Finally, we proposed management recommendations for ways to enhance and increase graduate students' innovative behavior.