Meta-analysis of proactive personality on employees’ subjective career success: the mediating role of job performance and employee proactive behavior

Career success represents one of the most extensively studied outcomes in organizational psychology and human resource management research. While previous studies have established positive relationships between proactive personality and various career outcomes, the underlying mechanisms through which proactive personality influences subjective career success remain insufficiently understood. This meta-analytic study aims to examine the mediating roles of job performance and employee proactive behavior in the relationship between proactive personality and subjective career success. Drawing upon the Ability-Motivation-Opportunity theory and social exchange theory, it proposes that proactive personality influences subjective career success through both direct and indirect pathways involving job performance and proactive behavior. Using meta-analytic structural equation modeling with data from 127 independent studies encompassing 12,456 employees across diverse industries and organizational contexts, the findings reveal that proactive personality has a significant positive effect on subjective career success. Furthermore, both job performance and proactive behavior partially mediate this relationship, with the sequential mediation model demonstrating that proactive personality enhances proactive behavior, which subsequently improves job performance and ultimately leads to greater subjective career success. These findings contribute to the career success literature by elucidating the behavioral mechanisms underlying the proactive personality-career success relationship and provide practical implications for human resource management practices aimed at fostering employee career development.