The proactive personality of young workers – what are the challenges for employers?

Abstract

Purpose: The main purpose of the study was to examine the proactive personality of young workers in Poland. Design/methodology/approach: Data were collected from young workers using an e-questionnaire. The study followed the approach developed by Bateman and Crant. The U Mann-Whitney test was used in the data analysis. The study focused on identifying specific proactive behaviors of young workers. Findings: Young employees with certain professional experience are characterized by highly proactive personality. The male employees showed higher overall levels of proactiveness than their female counterparts. In turn, the particular age of the young employees was not observed to affect their proactive attitudes. Gender-dependent statistical differences were observed in terms of some proactive behavior, which facilitated the formulation of specific recommendations for employers. Research limitations/implications: The study was carried out only in Poland. In the future, the author plans to expand the scope of the study to include countries of varying cultural characteristics and allow international comparisons. Practical implications: Employers are recommended to implement targeted efforts aimed at enhancing proactive employee behavior, particularly among female staff members. These should include the establishment of a proactive work environment and implementation of suitable HRM practices, e.g. in terms of proactiveness-focused career path planning and targeted employee development (individual and team coaching, mentoring, design thinking). Originality/value: The study identifies the proactive personality of young employees and uses the obtained results to formulate recommendations for employers in terms of HRM management that duly accounts for the procreative personality of employees. Keywords: proactive personality, young employees, HRM practices, employer. Category of the paper: Research paper.