108 Chapter 5 Proactivity Literature The idea that individuals are not necessarily reactive creatures has been widely adopted in the stress and coping literature. Traditionally, the coping literature focused on how individuals react to and deal with stressors and threats. However, the notion that coping may not only involve the reactions to stressful past events but may also be aimed at anticipated events in the future has gained traction among scholars (Aspinwall, 2005; Aspinwall & Taylor, 1997; Schwarzer, 2000). Similarly, literature on proactive behavior in organizational settings suggests that people may adopt a proactive approach to achieve a different future (Parker et al., 2010). This ‘forward time perspective’ is inherent to proactive motivation and behavior (Parker et al., 2010) and has also been emphasized in earlier research on proactive vitality management (Op den Kamp et al., 2018). Accordingly, working individuals may take an active role in how they approach their work by creating favorable situations and conditions (Crant, 2000). Such proactive behavior is inherently goal-directed – aimed at changing and improving the situation or oneself – and involves self-starting and future-focused action (Parker et al., 2006). These characteristics distinguish proactive constructs from conceptually related experiences and behaviors that are more reactive, top-down, or passive in nature (Crant, 2000). The literature has put forward multiple forms of proactive behavior, including but not limited to job crafting (Tims et al., 2012; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001), feedbackseeking (De Stobbeleir et al., 2011), voice (LePine & Van Dyne, 1998), and, focal to the current research, proactive vitality management (Op den Kamp et al., 2018). Proactive vitality management. To achieve proactive goals, individuals can either change the self or the environment (i.e., locus of change; Parker et al., 2010). Proactive vitality management, in contrast to most proactive behaviors investigated in organizational settings, involves behavior aimed at changing aspects of the self – or more specifically, one’s own physical and psychological state – to achieve optimal functioning (De Bloom et al., 2020; Op den Kamp et al., 2018). In other words, proactive vitality management involves intentional behavior consciously aimed to feel vital in order to perform well at work. As a goal-directed construct, proactive vitality management may thus be contrasted with behaviors that are, for example, performed as a health routine – e.g., exercising regularly – or as a reaction to fatigue, physiological needs, or even boredom – e.g., recovery, micro-breaks (Fritz et al., 2011; Op den Kamp et al., 2018; Sonnentag & Fritz, 2007). The perspective that individuals
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