Sleep Well, Be Proactive: A Within-Person Model of Sleep Quality, Optimism, and Proactive Behavior

Abstract

Although a large body of research has linked sleep to positive work outcomes, little is known about how and when nightly sleep quality prompts proactivity at work. Building on the model of proactive motivation and taking a resource perspective, we propose that sleep, as a daily resource-restorative activity, is conducive to employees’ work engagement (reason to motivation), vigor (energized to motivation), and organization-based self-esteem (can do motivation), which provide motivational resources for proactive behaviors. On the basis of positive psychology, we posit that optimism, as positive psychological resource, specifies when sleep prompts the proactive process. Through a 15-day experience-sampling study, we found support for our predictions. Theoretical and practical implications for sleep and proactivity are discussed.