Abstract:
Proactive behaviour overall and personal initiative, in particular, have become the most
desired characteristics of modern employees. Despite the amount of research on proactive
behaviour, the views on its well-being outcomes vary: several scholars discuss its benefits,
while others insist on its adverse consequences. This study aims to combine the two
conflicting streams of research and empirically test the dual pathway model of proactive
behaviour. By utilising the daily diary design, we analysed the effect of personal initiative on
emotional exhaustion and subsequent relaxation at the end of the working day. This study
examined the resource-gaining and resource-depleting mechanisms of the personal initiative
via both a direct effect on emotional exhaustion and through the mediating function of
making progress on work goals. Proactive personality was hypothesised to act as a moderator
to enhance the resource-gaining path and weaken the resource-depleting one. Using the daily
diary data of 156 New Zealand employees, this study found evidence to support the resource-
gaining path but not the resource-depleting one. The daily personal initiative was found to
significantly negatively affect the level of end-of-day emotional exhaustion either directly or
via the mediator. Nearly half of this effect is attributed to the mediating role of making
progress on one’s work goals. Moreover, the negative effect is even more prominent for
people scoring high in proactive personality. This study also contributes to the existing
research on daily recovery by providing evidence on the negative relationship between
personal initiative in the morning, levels of emotional exhaustion at the end of a working day,
and employees’ evening relaxation.
