title: Making things happen: reciprocal relationships between work characteristics and personal initiative in a four-wave longitudinal structural equation model.
abstract: The authors used the frameworks of reciprocal determinism and occupational socialization to study the effects of work characteristics (consisting of control and complexity of work) on personal initiative (PI)--mediated by control orientation (a 2nd-order factor consisting of control aspiration, perceived opportunity for control, and self-efficacy) and the reciprocal effects of PI on changes in work characteristics. They applied structural equation modeling to a longitudinal study with 4 measurement waves (N = 268) in a transitional economy: East Germany. Results confirm the model plus 1 additional, nonhypothesized effect. Work characteristics had a synchronous effect on PI via control orientation (full mediation). There were also effects of control orientation and of PI on later changes in work characteristics: As predicted, PI functioned as partial mediator, changing work characteristics in the long term (reciprocal effect); unexpectedly, there was a 2nd reciprocal effect of an additional lagged partial mediation of control orientation on later work characteristics.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, University of Giessen, Giessen, Germany. michael.frese@psychol.uni-giessen.de
authors.forename: Michael
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Frese
authors.forename: Harry
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Garst
authors.forename: Doris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fay
mesh_terms: D001290:Attitude; D005500:Follow-Up Studies; D006801:Humans; D007588:Job Satisfaction; D009042:Motivation; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013997:Time Factors; D013998:Time Perception; D017132:Workplace / Q000523:psychology*