54 Chapter 3 The goal of the present study is twofold. First, we investigate whether proactive vitality management and creative work performance are indeed related by examining their potential relationship over the course of three consecutive workweeks. In addition, we incorporate characteristics of both the person and the work environment into the study to examine whether proactive vitality management is more effective for certain people and in specific situations. In this process, we propose that it is important to be aware of one’s own state, and to be supported by the external environment. We examine the influence of self-insight (i.e., the understanding of one’s own feelings, thoughts, and behaviors; Grant, Franklin, & Langford, 2002), as it may promote the awareness of personal needs and preferences regarding how and when to boost physical and mental energy for work. Self-insight may, therefore, help individuals to use proactive vitality management more effectively. However, an unsupportive environment may hinder individuals in their attempt to boost creative work performance. Therefore, we examine the availability of social support for creativity (Madjar, Oldham, & Pratt, 2002), as it may help and encourage people to direct their efforts and energy into the creative process. Our research contributes to the literature because it is one of the first studies to highlight the idea that people are not passive or reactive agents in the creative process and may proactively influence their own levels of creativity (cf. De Stobbeleir, Ashford, & Buyens, 2011). We introduce proactive vitality management as a specific form of goal-oriented, individual behavior that may complement the influence of more ‘distal’ factors that can affect creative work performance, such as organizational climate or job complexity (for an overview see, for example, Anderson, Potočnik, & Zhou, 2014). Second, our approach expands upon energy-management studies (e.g., Fritz et al., 2011), and complements proactive perspectives that are focused more directly on work and the work environment (e.g., job crafting; Wrzesniewski & Dutton, 2001), as proactive vitality management involves behavior that is directed at the self and on proactively managing physical and mental energy to promote work goals. Third, we respond to recent calls to integrate both between- and within-person approaches in organizational behavior research by using a multilevel, weekly diary design (Bakker, 2015; Ilies, Aw, & Pluut, 2015). Taking into account the within-person level allows us to examine physical and mental energy as valuable but volatile resources that people may aim to replenish or gain from time to time (cf. Schippers & Hogenes, 2011) to promote their work. Thus, we assume that people engage in proactive vitality management more during some
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