The concept of personal initiative: Operationalization, reliability and validity in two German samples
Measures of self-starting, forward-looking initiative were associated with assessments by close others, planning and executing plans, and action orientation. They were not associated with job satisfaction.
Connection to this page
View initiative through concrete actions—anticipating, choosing and carrying out work—rather than only through the strength of someone's enthusiasm.
Participants, methods, scope and bibliography
- Participants and methods
- Tested interview and questionnaire measures of personal initiative using two waves of a longitudinal study of 543 people in East Germany and a cross-sectional study of 160 people in West Germany.
- Scope and limitations
- The focus was on validating the concept and its measurement, not testing performance improvements from a specific habit or teaching method. Social and historical conditions also matter.
Michael Frese; Doris Fay; Tanja Hilburger; Karena Leng; Almut Tag (1997). The concept of personal initiative: Operationalization, reliability and validity in two German samples
Journal of Occupational and Organizational Psychology, 70(2), 139–161
DOI: 10.1111/j.2044-8325.1997.tb00639.x
