An Evaluation of Moderating Influences of Employee Proactive Personality: Empowerment and Political Skill

An action-orientation within the workplace is often sought out by organizations as a source for competitive advantage. Organizational leaders are increasingly reliant on independently driven employees that will take action without being instructed to do so. Toward this effort, proactive personality has become increasingly popular within the literature as a personality trait associated with an employee’s propensity to take charge of situations and demonstrate initiative to make a positive impact. In identifying potential variables that will moderate the effects of proactive personality, a highly relevant construct is empowerment. Proactive personality is thought of as a trait, whereas empowerment can be thought of as the contextual counterpart. In this study, I research both psychological empowerment as an employee interpretation of organizational conditions, such as feelings of selfefficacy, control, and flexibility for action (Arnold, Arad, Rhoades, & Drasgow, 2000) and structural empowerment as the influence of situational workplace context (Kanter, 1977). Despite the theoretical overlap between proactive personality and empowerment, very little has been done to integrate or investigate these variables together to evaluate their relative influences on important outcomes. Given that limited concentration has been focused on boundary conditions of proactive personality, employee political skill is hypothesized as a moderator that will encourage the attainment of important organizational outcomes (i.e., job task Action Orientation ii performance, job satisfaction) and minimize negative outcomes (i.e., occupational stress and strain) from proactive personality and empowerment. This study is a more complete investigation of proactive personality that not only provides a meaningful theoretical examination, but also informs applied practice. Despite a number of theoretical links between proactive personality and empowerment, the two constructs have been investigated in isolation from one another. Therefore, the relationship between empowerment and political skill is largely unknown. It is unclear whether empowerment and political skill are both necessary to realize optimal results or whether being high on both leads to exponentially better outcomes. This study included 252 nurses from union organizations in Oregon, Florida, and Missouri that registered and were invited to participate (53%). They were surveyed across two points in time, 176 participated at Time 1 and Time 2 and 76 participated in only Time 1. Results did not show support for my hypotheses that improvements would be observed for those high on any two research variables: proactive personality, empowerment, and political skill. However, results consistently support a compensatory model. In general, task performance, perceived effectiveness, and satisfaction with quality of care improved when nurses were high on either proactive personality or empowerment (either structural or psychological). Those high on either proactive personality or political skill had higher levels of task performance and satisfaction with quality of care. Similarly, those high on either structural empowerment or political skill had higher levels of task performance and satisfaction with quality of care. Only when a nurse was low Action Orientation iii on both variables in the model did they show reduced benefits. Several clear practical solutions are readily apparent based on study results. Given that empowerment can be manipulated within an organizational culture and proactive personality can be integrated with selection systems, the results are important for organizational leaders and organizational development consultants. Similarly, this research adds greatly to the literature on political skill, an area that is relatively new. By examining the moderating influence of political skill, this adds to the theoretical advancement of the three constructs while also informing practitioners regarding potential selection, training, and organizational design. Political skill has been seen as an attribute with the capacity to change over time with training, experience, and mentoring (Ferris, Perrewé, Anthony, & Gilmore, 2000). Therefore, the practical implications for organizations are clearly evident. Further, given that both proactive personality and empowerment have received limited evaluation into their boundary conditions, an evaluation of potential moderators helps advance into the understanding of the processes related to action within the workplace. Action Orientation iv Dedication I am dedicating this dissertation to my grandmother, Mary D’amico. She has been my supporter and champion throughout my life. She is a source of my inspiration and my strength. Action Orientation v Acknowledgements I would like to acknowledge the financial support I received from the Society for Industrial and Organizational Psychology, the Personnel Testing Counsel of Northern California, and CPS Human Resource Services. In addition, I would like to thank the organizations that facilitated with data collection efforts. These included the Oregon Nurses Association, the Oregon Center for Nursing, the Florida Nurses Association, and the Missouri Nurses Association. I would like to recognize the leadership and support of my committee. My Committee Chairs, Donald Truxillo and Talya Bauer, were indispensible in making this dissertation successful. Berrin Erdogan, Cynthia Mohr, and Leslie Hammer provided detailed feedback and insightful additions throughout. I would like to especially acknowledge Cynthia Mohr for all of her support during data collection. Finally I would like to thank my research assistants Roxana Gutierrez and Layla Mansfield for the energy, commitment, and attention to detail they provided throughout the project. In the end, I found it a pleasure to work with each of these individuals and organizations. Action Orientation vi TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract i Dedication iv Acknowledgements v List of Tables viii List of Figures xi CHAPTER 1 1 RESEARCH PURPOSE 1 Potential Limitations to Proactive Personality and Empowerment 4 Political Skill as a Potential Moderator 5 Contributions of the Research 5 CHAPTER 2 9 LITERATURE REVIEW: PROACTIVE PERSONALITY 9 Proactive vs. Reactive 10 Proactivity as a Process 11 Theoretical Foundations 11 Proactive Personality 13 Proactive Behavior 14 Relationship Between Proactive Personality and Outcome Variables 15 CHAPTER 3 21 LITERATURE REVIEW: EMPOWERMENT 21 Structural Versus Psychological Empowerment 22 Facets of Psychological Empowerment 24 Structural Empowerment 26 Relationship Between Empowerment and Organizational Outcomes 27 The Relationship Between Empowerment and Proactive Personality 36 CHAPTER 4 40 LITERATURE REVIEW: POLITICAL SKILL 40 The Construct of Political Skill 44 Political Skill as a Moderator of Action-Orientation 46 Political Skill and Proactivity 49 Political Skill and Empowerment 56 CHAPTER 5 62 METHOD 62 Occupation Sample 62 Study History and Modifications. 65 Recruitment 67 Respondent Characteristics 68i Dedication iv Acknowledgements v List of Tables viii List of Figures xi CHAPTER 1 1 RESEARCH PURPOSE 1 Potential Limitations to Proactive Personality and Empowerment 4 Political Skill as a Potential Moderator 5 Contributions of the Research 5 CHAPTER 2 9 LITERATURE REVIEW: PROACTIVE PERSONALITY 9 Proactive vs. Reactive 10 Proactivity as a Process 11 Theoretical Foundations 11 Proactive Personality 13 Proactive Behavior 14 Relationship Between Proactive Personality and Outcome Variables 15 CHAPTER 3 21 LITERATURE REVIEW: EMPOWERMENT 21 Structural Versus Psychological Empowerment 22 Facets of Psychological Empowerment 24 Structural Empowerment 26 Relationship Between Empowerment and Organizational Outcomes 27 The Relationship Between Empowerment and Proactive Personality 36 CHAPTER 4 40 LITERATURE REVIEW: POLITICAL SKILL 40 The Construct of Political Skill 44 Political Skill as a Moderator of Action-Orientation 46 Political Skill and Proactivity 49 Political Skill and Empowerment 56 CHAPTER 5 62 METHOD 62 Occupation Sample 62 Study History and Modifications. 65 Recruitment 67 Respondent Characteristics 68 Action Orientation vii Data Collection Design 71 Measures 71 Control Variables 77 CHAPTER 6 83 RESULTS 83 Respondents vs. Non-Respondents 83 Analyses 84 Additional Research Questions 96 Interactions with Autonomy 98 CHAPTER 7 105 DISCUSSION 105 Two-Way Interactions 106 Three-Way Interactions 112 Implications for Research 114 Implications for Practice 116 Potential Limitations and Future Research Directions 119 Conclusion 124 REFERENCES 202 Appendix: Scale Items 231 Action Orientation viii List of Tables Table 1. Overview of Measure by Source and Data Collection Timing. 125 Table 2. Means, Standard Deviations, Reliability Estimates, and Correlations for Study Variables . 126 Table 3. Regression Analyses Testing Proactive Personality and Psychological Empowerment Interaction with Task Performance . 130 Table 4. Regression Analyses Testing Proactive Personality and Structural Empowerment Interaction with Task Performance. 131 Table 5. Regression Analyses Testing Proactive Personality and Psychological Empowerment Interaction with Perceived Effectiveness . 132 Table 6. Regression Analyses Testing Proactive Personality and Structural Empowerment Interaction with Perceived Effectiveness. 133 Table 7. Regression Analyses Testing Proactive Personality and Psychological Empowerment Interaction with Job Satisfaction . 134 Table 8. Regression Analyses