Proactive personality and career success of higher education teachers: The mediating effects of job crafting

We investigated the role of job crafting (task, cognitive, and environmental) in the relationship between proactive personality and career success among teachers. Participants were 326 higher education teachers (female = 60.4%; senior title = 20.9%; doctoral degree = 22.1%) from 10 colleges and universities in different regions of China. They completed measures on proactive personality, job crafting, and career success through “Wenjuanxing” (a professional online questionnaire survey platform in China). Structural equation modelling analysis results indicated positive associations between proactive personality and career success among higher education teachers for their higher career success. Task crafting, cognitive crafting, and environmental crafting had a partial mediating role in the relationship between proactive personality and career success. These findings are consistent with contemporary theories on proactive behaviour and career development, emphasising the importance of individual initiative in career success. Findings have significance for promoting the career success of higher education teachers considering job crafting and for the improved performance of university organisations.