DFG-Project "Personal Initiative"

DFG-Research Project "Personal Initiative and Job Performance"

This research project addresses the further development of the concept of personal initiative in three ways: First, we are interested in the differential relationships between personal initiative and (a) task performance and (b) contextual performance.

Second, we seek to further support the construct validity of personal initiative by examining the convergent and discriminant validity regarding other similar proactive behaviors (e.g., active feedback seeking, taking charge, voice).

Third, we are going to assess the differential predictive validity of personal initiative and other proactive behaviors for performance concepts. In all of the studies, we will include four different sources of (sales) performance data: self, peers, supervisors, and archival data.

Members of the research group: Prof. Dr. M. Frese, Dipl.-Psych. K. Tornau

Selected Literature

Fay, D., & Frese, M. (2001). The concept of personal initiative: An overview of validity studies. Human Performance, 14, 97-124.

Frese, M., & Fay, D. (2001). Personal initiative: An active performance concept for work in the 21st century. Research in Organizational Behavior, 23, 133-187.

Frese, M., Tornau, K., & Fay, D. (2008). Forschung zur Analyse und Förderung der Eigeninitiative. Personalführung, 3, 48-57.

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