When is Proactive Behavior Perceived as Depleting?

Abstract

Many organizational scholars emphasize the utility of proactive behavior because it contributes to performance without putting too much strain on employees. However, recently scholars suggested examining negative consequences of proactive behavior. Following this suggestion, we examine depletion perceptions as one negative consequence of daily proactive behavior. Further, we also focus on identifying conditions in daily work contexts under which proactive behavior may be associated with depletion perceptions, namely low job control and high self-control demands. We analyzed data from 141 employees in a two-week diary study with three daily measurement points. We consider lagged effects by investigating paths from the morning and the afternoon to depletion perceptions at midday and the end of work. Multilevel modeling showed that proactive behavior in the afternoon is negatively related to depletion perceptions at the end of work. However, when daily job control was low, proactive behavior in the morning was positively related to depletion perceptions at the end of work. Daily self-control demands did not moderate the relationship between proactive behavior and depletion perceptions. Findings put the utility of proactive behavior in perspective and point to its dangers. Moreover, the study underscores the importance to consider time-lagged effects when investigating energetic processes.