Proactive personality, core self-evaluations, and engagement: the role of negative emotions

The authors examined the simultaneous indirect effects of proactive personality (PP) and core self-evaluations (CSEs) on the work outcomes of employee task performance and affective organizational commitment (AOC) via job engagement. Additionally, the authors tested the potential energizing capacity of high negative work affect in this process. The paper aims to discuss these issues.

Data were collected from a sample of teachers in the South-Eastern USA (n=193). The online survey assessed PP, CSE, work affect, job engagement and AOC. Employee task performance was obtained from archival sources.

The results indicated that job engagement mediated the relationships of PP and CSE with employee task performance and AOC. Additionally, negative work affect strengthened the PP-job engagement-work outcomes relationship when it was high.

PP and CSE individuals appear to devote their job engagement energies for differing reasons. These distinctions are further supported by high negative work affect being found to bolster the PP-job engagement-work outcomes relationship only. Future research should continue to investigate the unique contributions made by PP and CSE to job engagement.

By examining PP, CSE, negative work affect and job engagement within a conservation of resources (COR) lens, the authors were able to further distinguish through interpretation of the findings the motivational aspects of PP and CSE as well as providing an instance where negative work affect can incite additional job engagement.