How to trigger employee proactive behavior? Introducing the ritual perspective

Dan Ni, Hailing Lu and Yongli Wang

Journal of Management & Organization, 2025, vol. 31, issue 3, 1040-1055

Abstract: Much research on the antecedents of proactive behavior has appeared in the literature, but this research introduces a new ritual perspective to rethink this question. Drawing on the process model of interaction rituals, we propose that work rituals urge employees to share emotional energy, and then, employees are likely to experience a higher level of work meaningfulness. In turn, employees tend to engage in more proactive behavior. Using data from a random assignment field experiment involving 204 employees from a communication corporation in China, we found support for our hypotheses. The implications of our research for theory and practice are discussed.

Date: 2025
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