Influences of Proactive Personality on Innovative Work Behavior - Moderations by Power Distance -

This study examines the effects of proactive personality on innovative work behavior(IWB) and moderation effects of perceived organizational power distance. Especially, it was hypothesized that power distance in organization would have moderation effects on initiation and implementation of IWB to the different extents, respectively. The proposed hypotheses were examined through the analyses of the data from 439 employees working at various organizations. First, it was found that proactive personality was a significant predictor of both initiation and implementation of IWB. Second, it was demonstrated that the power distance had no moderation effect on the initiation of IWB whereas it had moderation effects on the implementation of IWB to a greater degree. Findings not only supports the hypothesis that proactive personality is an strong predictor of IWB but also suggest that proactive personality plays a more important role for the implementation of IWB, which required interpersonal interactions and organizational supports, than for the initiation of IWB.