Proactive Personality: Genetic Influences in its Relationships with Career Success and Environmental Impacts on Its Change

Abstract

Proactive personality is defined as individuals' relatively enduring tendency to alter the environment. In my dissertation, I undertake two studies to examine important issues. In the first study, I draw upon evolutionary psychology and genetic research to investigate the genetic foundation of proactive personality and to probe the relative merits of genetic and environmental influences in the relationships between proactive personality and career success. In the second study, I adopt an interactionist perspective to study development of proactive personality as a result of individuals' work environments and further to examine a reciprocal relationship between them. Results of the first study demonstrate distinctive weights of genetic and environmental effects in shaping proactive personality and its relationships with various career success variables including income, job complexity, leadership, and psychological well-being. Findings of the second study show reciprocal relationships of proactive personality with job demands and job control.