The Effect of Proactive Behavior on Competence Improvement in a Workplace through Reflection: A Focus on Young Workers in the 20s

Abstract

Although proactive behavior, characterized by individuals’ active and proactive work on themselves and their environment to adapt to an organization, is noted to improve their working ability and self-understanding in the workplace, the process has not been studied. This study examines the effect of young workers’ proactive behavior on improving their competence at work, focusing on the mediating effect of reflection. A quantitative survey was conducted on 942 employees working in Japanese companies, all in their 20s. The participants had a mean age of 26.6 years, with 46.0% being women. Factor analysis demonstrated that proactive behavior comprised feedback-seeking, organizational information-seeking, and networking behavior, and their impact on ability improvement was examined through reflection. The path analysis showed that the feedback-seeking and organizational information-seeking behaviors of young workers positively influenced the improvement of competence in the workplace through the mediating effect of reflection. Based on the results, the significance of this study and future issues are discussed.