A COLLECTIVE ACTION APPROACH TO PROACTIVITY
Open Access
- Author:
- Fatimah, Shereen
- Graduate Program:
- Business Administration
- Degree:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Document Type:
- Dissertation
- Date of Defense:
- May 02, 2017
- Committee Members:
- Lance Ferris, Dissertation Advisor/Co-Advisor
Lance Ferris, Committee Chair/Co-Chair
Stephen Erik Humphrey, Committee Member
Forrest Scott Briscoe, Committee Member
Alicia Ann Grandey, Outside Member - Keywords:
- PROACTIVITY
COLLECTIVE ACTION
MOTIVATION
MULTILEVEL - Abstract:
- In this dissertation, I draw on the social movements literature and system justification theory to put forward a collective action approach to the study of proactivity. To this end, in the first chapter, I develop a collective action process for change implementation by incorporating individual, meso, and organizational influences on the implementation of proactive initiatives in the workplace. Specifically, I propose a multi-phase process where the proactive employee (1) crafts a proactive initiative to capitalize on an opportunity or prevent a problem in the workplace, (2) mobilizes his/her coworkers to play a role in implementing the initiative, (3) puts together a collective action team, (4) which then works together to refine the proactive initiative and implement the change in the workplace. In doing so, I draw on the social movements literature to outline how proactive employees may mobilize a collection action to implement the change and I draw on system justification theory to examine when and why employees will be willing to challenge the status quo and engage in a collective action process for change implementation. Following which, in the second chapter, I test one part of a collective action process for change implementation by examining the recruitment of coworkers to participate in implementing a proactive initiative. In this chapter, drawing on the social movements literature and system justification theory, I examine the effectiveness of framing strategies that proactive employees may use and the role of the organizational context in motivating peers to participate in a collective action process for change implementation. Across two experimental designs, I examined the effectiveness of the framing strategies and organizational context in motivating peers to participate in implementing a student-led mentorship program. Taking together the results of the empirical studies, I outline the limitations of the study designs and discuss directions for future research on the recruitment of coworkers to participate in a collective action process for change implementation.