Open Access

Linking proactive personality to strengths use: The mediator of psychological safety and the moderator of exploitative leadership

Wenyin Yang¹, Zhijie Xu², Yang Liu^2,*

1 Business School, Beijing Wuzi University, Beijing, 101149, China
2 School of Economics and Management, North China Electric Power University, Beijing, 102206, China

* Corresponding Author: Yang Liu. Email:

Journal of Psychology in Africa 2025, 35(1), 43-49. https://doi.org/10.32604/jpa.2025.065880

Received 11 August 2024; Accepted 20 December 2024; Issue published 30 April 2025

Abstract

Drawing upon the Conservation of Resources theory, this study investigated the relationship between proactive personality and strengths use, as well as the mediating role of psychological safety and the moderating role of exploitative leadership within this relationship. Data were collected from 368 employees (females = 57.61%; mean age = 32.35; SD = 6.31) working in various organizations in China at two points in time with a two-week interval. We conducted structural equation modeling and a moderated mediation path analysis to test our hypotheses. The results demonstrated that proactive personality is positively related to strengths use and psychological safety partially mediates the association of proactive personality and strengths use. Furthermore, this study also found that exploitative leadership weakens the direct relationship between proactive personality and psychological safety and the indirect relationship of proactive personality with strengths use through psychological safety. This study identified the underlying mechanisms between proactive personality and strengths use.

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Keywords

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