Proactive Personality and Its Influence on Leadership and Career Advancement in Higher Education

The present study investigates the predictive role of proactive personality in career success among government college teachers, while also exploring the mediating effects of social desirability (denial, attribution) and motivation to lead (affective identity, non-calculative, social normative). Employing a correlational research design and a quantitative methodology, data were collected from a sample of 300 college teachers using purposive sampling. Standardized scales were used to measure the study variables. Findings revealed that proactive personality significantly predicts career success. Regression analyses indicated that denial and attribution negatively predict career success, while social normative motivation positively predicts it. Affective identity and non-calculative motivation did not show significant direct predictive effects. Hierarchical regression and Sobel tests on mediation model showed that the effect of proactive personality on career success is mediated by attribution and social normative significantly. The analysis by Gender showed huge differences in proactive personality, leadership motivation but there was no significant gender difference in the career success as a whole. The results of the research also point to the fact that proactive characters and socially committed leadership motives should be encouraged in educational institutions to improve outcomes within their career activities.