The Antecedent Role of Proactive Personality in Career Self-Management

Some researchers have reported that people with higher levels of proactive disposition are more conscientious (Major et al., 2006) and that proactive personality is related to career self-efficacy in career exploration (Qu et al., 2015; Shang & Gan, 2009). In other words, undergraduates who have...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published inJournal of college student development Vol. 62; no. 3; pp. 351 - 355
Main Authors Yu, Lulu, Fan, Weiqiao, Wang, Zhiwei, Wang, Xiaofang, Yu, Chuan
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Johns Hopkins University Press 2021
Subjects
Career Choice
Career Development
Correlation
Foreign Countries
Goal Orientation
Intention
Personality Traits
Prosocial Behavior
Self Efficacy
Social Cognition
Student Adjustment
Student Attitudes
Undergraduate Students
China
Online AccessGet full text

Cover

More Information
Summary:Some researchers have reported that people with higher levels of proactive disposition are more conscientious (Major et al., 2006) and that proactive personality is related to career self-efficacy in career exploration (Qu et al., 2015; Shang & Gan, 2009). In other words, undergraduates who have a stronger sense of responsibility might willingly develop much more self-efficacy or outcome expectations, which in turn may lead to more specific goals in their career development. Few studies have been designed to examine the association among personality variables (e.g., proactive disposition) and career goal intentions, particularly in Chinese undergraduates. The aim of this study was to verify the antecedent role of proactive personality in terms of the career self-management model among a sample of Chinese undergraduate students. Consistent with the authors' hypotheses, the results indicate that proactive personality has a positive association with social career cognitive constructs. Chinese undergraduates who actively influenced and adapted to a changing environment were able to develop greater self-efficacy or outcome expectations, which in turn led to specific and clear goals and intentions in their career development. This study presents a new perspective that might help Chinese undergraduates develop and achieve their self-management intentions and behaviors in career planning and decision making by considering the role of proactive personality.
ISSN:0897-5264
1543-3382
1543-3382
DOI:10.1353/csd.2021.0042