Page 19 - Accelerating Research and Impact - Issue 7

Asurvey of healthcare professionals in Wuhan during the COVID-19 lockdown conducted by Lingnan researchers found that individual employees with proactive personality do well in the face of challenging circumstances. The research outcomes suggested that individual employees also play critical roles in managing crisis and uncertainty, thus maintaining effective organisational functions.
The research team of the project “When There is a Will There is a Way: The Role of Proactive Personality in Combating COVID-19” comprised researchers from Lingnan University, University of Notre Dame in the US, Peking University International Hospital and two other hospitals in Mainland China.
People with highly proactive personalities are those who actively scan for and create opportunities, demonstrate initiative, and are persevering. They are more likely to draw upon their strengths and best qualities to create opportunities for themselves (also called “strengths use”), and to view stressful and ambiguous situations, like the pandemic, as an opportunity to adapt and utilise their personal strengths.
Proactive personality as strength in challenging times
Two Lingnan University Business Programmes, “Business Administration” and “Management”, are listed on ShanghaiRanking’s Global Ranking of Academic Subjects 2021.
“Strengths use” subsequently predicted two important behavioural outcomes — higher job performance and lower withdrawal from work, and two significant well-being outcomes — higher resilience and thriving.
Project leader Prof Nancy Yifeng CHEN, Associate Dean (Research and Postgraduate Studies) of LU’s Faculty of Business, said that the research findings converge on the importance of a proactive orientation
in frontline health care workers’
professional and personal success in
dealing with the uncertainty stemming from
the COVID-19 pandemic. Extending beyond the COVID-19 crisis, the active nature of proactive personality allows those facing uncertainty and adversity to collect a job-related motivational resource, which, in turn, yields stronger job performance and well-being.
RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS 16