Abstract Integrating proactivity and creativity literatures, we argue that people can perform more creatively at work when they proactively manage their levels of vitality. Proactive vitality management is defined as individual, goal‐oriented behavior aimed at managing physical and mental energy to promote optimal functioning at work. We hypothesize that this process may be facilitated by being aware of one's own state and by support from others. A total of 242 employees participated in a weekly diary study for three consecutive weeks, yielding 610 observations. Results of multilevel analyses show that participants reported more creative work performance during weeks in which they had proactively used vitality management. In addition, in line with our predictions, self‐insight and social support for creativity in the workplace acted as cross‐level moderators and strengthened the relationship between proactive vitality management and creativity. We conclude that a proactive approach regarding physical and mental energy is an important bottom‐up strategy that may foster creativity in work settings.
Abstract Most research on employee creativity has been focused on relatively distal antecedents, such as personality or job characteristics, which has resulted in top‐down organizational approaches to promote employee creativity. However, such approaches overlook the self‐regulating potential of employees and may not explain intraindividual fluctuations in creativity. In the present research, we build on proactive motivation theory to examine how employees may promote their own creativity on a daily basis through the use of proactive vitality management (PVM). To better understand the PVM‐creativity link, we zoom in on this process by examining the role of mindfulness as an underlying mechanism. In two daily diary studies, employees from the United States ( N = 133 persons, n = 521 data points) and the creative industry in Germany ( N = 62 persons, n = 232 data points) reported on their use of PVM and states of mindfulness for five consecutive workdays. Additionally, participants completed a daily creativity test (brainstorming task) in Study 1, whereas supervisors rated participants' daily creative work performance in Study 2. In both studies, multilevel analyses showed that daily PVM was positively related to creative performance through daily mindfulness, supporting our hypotheses. These replicated findings suggest that individuals may bring themselves in a cognitive, creative state of mind on a daily basis, emphasizing the importance of proactive behavior in the creative process.
In the present research, we use proactivity literature and studies on energy at work to argue that individuals may proactively manage their vitality (i.e., physical and mental energy) to promote optimal functioning at work. We develop and validate a scale to measure proactive vitality management (PVM), and explore the nomological network. We conducted a five-day diary study (N = 133; 521 days), a survey study (N = 813) and a cross-sectional study measuring daily PVM (N = 246) among working individuals from various occupational sectors. The results show that PVM can be reliably measured with eight items that load on one overall factor, both on general and daily level. Furthermore, daily PVM was moderately but positively related to the use of work-related strategies and micro-breaks. Moreover, PVM related positively to relevant personal characteristics (i.e., proactive personality and self-insight) and showed moderate but positive relationships with job crafting and relaxation (convergent validity). PVM was unrelated to psychological detachment and decreasing hindering demands (discriminant validity). Finally, PVM was positively related to well-being, in-role work performance, creative work performance and performance on the Remote Associates Test (criterion validity). We conclude that employees may promote their own work performance through the use of PVM.
Employees with a chronic disease are confronted with health problems, pain, and a limited energy reserve, which may hinder their day-to-day functioning at work. In the current study, we use proactive motivation and job demands-resources (JD-R) theories to hypothesize that chronically ill individuals may optimize their own well-being and work performance by using proactive vitality management (PVM). In Study 1, we tested our hypotheses through multigroup comparative analyses among a mixed sample of both healthy and chronically ill employees who participated in a weekly, three-wave study (T1 N = 399, M age = 45.18 (SD = 13.13), 48 % female). In Study 2, employees with a chronic liver disease were followed over the course of 2,5 years and filled out surveys at three points in time (T1 N = 192, M age = 48.73 (SD = 10.75), 72 % female). Findings from both studies were in line with our hypotheses. More specifically, consistent with JD-R theory's health impairment hypothesis, results showed that exhaustion mediated the relation between PVM and (a) functional limitations and (b) absenteeism. Consistent with JD-R's motivational hypothesis, work engagement mediated the relation between PVM and (a) creative work performance and (b) absenteeism. In addition, results of moderated mediation analyses indicated that these indirect effects were stronger for chronically ill employees with more (vs. less) self-insight – i.e., a developed understanding of one's own thoughts, feelings, and behaviors. These findings contribute to JD-R and proactive motivation theories and suggest that PVM is an important behavioral strategy that may protect chronically ill employees' occupational health and promote their performance, especially when combined with self-insight.
This study tested the hypothesis that individuals can proactively manage their own energetic, affective, and cognitive resources in order to be creative at work. Building on proactivity and creativity literatures, we propose a theoretical model in which employees who proactively manage their vitality are more engaged in their work and show improved creative performance. We also tested the boundary conditions of this process. Participants were Dutch employees from various occupations who filled out a background questionnaire and five weekly surveys. The results of multilevel modelling analyses offered support for our model. Weekly proactive vitality management was positively related to changes in weekly creativity through changes in weekly work engagement. As predicted, learning goal orientation strengthened and performance goal orientation weakened the links between proactive vitality management and engagement, and between engagement and creativity. We discuss the theoretical contributions, and indicate how these findings can be used in daily working life.
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