PROACTIVE PERSONALITY AND EMPLOYEES’ INNOVATIVE BEHAVIOURS: THE ROLE OF NETWORK BUILDING ABILITY

Abstract

The study aims to expand our knowledge of the employees’ innovative behaviours in the service sector by adopting the coevolution theory of the psychological–sociological perspective as the lens in which the study will utilise to investigate the antecedents of each stage of the employees’ innovative behaviours: Idea generation, idea promotion, and idea realisation behaviours. The relation between proactive personality and each stage of employees’ innovative behaviours was tested, focusing on the intermediary role of network building ability. A total of 406 questionnaires from employees working in the service sector were collected and analysed using structural equation modelling. The study findings illustrate the importance of building networks for proactive employees to be able to innovate and demonstrated that different stages of employees’ innovative behaviours may require different antecedents and, therefore, separating the analysis for each stage may enrich our knowledge and enhance our understanding of employees’ innovative behaviours.