Are Proactive Employees Proactive Performers? The Moderating Role of Supervisor-Subordinate Marital Status Similarity

Wang, X.; Zheng, X.; Luo, J.; Zhao, S.

Abstract

In accordance with the similarity attraction paradigm, this paper investigates when and how proactive employees can be rated as proactive performers by proposing supervisor-subordinate marital status similarity as a relational moderator and leader-member exchange as the mediator. It therefore advances understanding of performance evaluation of proactive employees. Data from a sample of 471 Chinese employees and their 161 supervisors are used to examine the models hypothesized. The results show that LMX mediates the interaction effect between a proactive personality and supervisor-subordinate marital status similarity on supervisors’ evaluations of proactive performance. When proactive employees and their supervisors have similar (dissimilar) marital status, the indirect relationship between proactive personality and supervisor-rated proactive performance via LMX is stronger (weaker). Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Citation

Wang, X., Zheng, X., Luo, J., & Zhao, S. (2023). Are Proactive Employees Proactive Performers? The Moderating Role of Supervisor-Subordinate Marital Status Similarity. The Journal of Social Psychology, 163(5), https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2021.2025027

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Dec 10, 2021
• Online Publication Date: Jan 24, 2022
• Publication Date: 2023-08
• Deposit Date: Jan 20, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Jan 24, 2023
• Journal: Journal of Social Psychology
• Print ISSN: 0022-4545
• Electronic ISSN: 1940-1183
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 163
• Issue: 5
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00224545.2021.2025027
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1219225