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Association Between Proactive Personality and Academic Self–Efficacy

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Abstract

Research about organizations has consistently revealed that proactive personality is a relatively stable disposition and a significant antecedent of self-efficacy, which generates employees’ proactive behavior and thus benefits individuals and firms. Consequently, the present study aimed to examine whether the relationship between proactive personality, a general temperamental tendency, and specific self-efficacy that is focused on certain activities or tasks might emerge across contexts in an education setting with a directional effect. From a sample of 123 students, we employed a longitudinal approach using two waves of surveys to examine the directional relations between students’ proactive personalities and their academic self–efficacy in education. The results showed that students’ proactive personalities at Time 1 predicted change in their academic self–efficacy at Time 2, suggesting a top–down relationship. On the contrary students’ academic self–efficacy at Time 1 could not predict their proactive personalities at Time 2. In short, the directional effect of proactive personality on self–efficacy across contexts was captured in this study. Implications and limitations were discussed.

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Acknowdedgments

This study was supported by the National Science Council, Taiwan for Wan Chen Lu (NSC 102-2410-H-253-002) and Mei-Yen Chen (NSC 102-2410-H-003-133-MY2). In addition, Lung Hung Chen was supported by Ministry of Education, Taiwan (2012 project of elastic salary for outstanding scholar)

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Human Development & Family Studies, National Taiwan Normal University, 162, Helping East Road Section 1, Taipei, Taiwan

    Shin-Huei Lin

  2. Department of Tourism and Leisure Management, Taoyuan Innovation Institute of Technology, No. 414, Sec. 3, Chung Shang E. Rd., Chung Li City, Taoyuan County, 32091, Taiwan

    Wan Chen Lu

  3. Graduate Institute of Sport, Leisure, and Hospitality Management, National Taiwan Normal University, 162 Helping East Road Section 1, Taipei, Taiwan

    Mei-Yen Chen

  4. Department of Recreation and Leisure Industry Management, National Taiwan Sport University, No. 250, Wen Hua 1st Road, Kueishan, Taoyuan County, Taiwan

    Lung Hung Chen

Authors
  1. Shin-Huei Lin
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  2. Wan Chen Lu
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  3. Mei-Yen Chen
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  4. Lung Hung Chen
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Correspondence to Shin-Huei Lin, Wan Chen Lu, Mei-Yen Chen or Lung Hung Chen.

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Lin, SH., Lu, W.C., Chen, MY. et al. Association Between Proactive Personality and Academic Self–Efficacy. Curr Psychol 33, 600–609 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12144-014-9231-8

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