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Date of Award

6-2017

Document Type

Restricted Thesis: Campus only access

Degree Name

Master of Science in Psychology

Department

Psychology

First Reader/Committee Chair

Kottke, Janet

Abstract

The following study attempted to operationalize the willingness to work hard component of Hogan’s RAW model of employability. Willingness to Work Hard, the W in the model, appears to be multi-faceted; a qualitative synthesis of themes suggests that the construct may be dispositional. I examined proactive personality by using the G ProACT scale to help understand the multi-dimensionality of Willingness to Work Hard. Taking initiative, rigidness, planning, and anticipating opportunities were the four subscales that emerged. The purpose of my study was to collect evidence of construct validity for the proposed measure. I examined the relationship between the G ProACT measure and discriminant and convergent variables. A survey was distributed among CSUSB students that contained the G ProACT measure, demographic related items, and other established measures to gather construct validity. A confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) with 488 participants indicated a lack of support for the hypothesized model. Specifically, the CFA revealed that three of the four factors did not relate to the presumed construct of proactive personality. Rigidness showed no relationship whereas anticipating opportunities and planning demonstrated marginal relationships to the underlying construct. Follow-up analyses indicated that taking initiative was the only subscale deemed as strongly factorable. Findings suggest a need to further explore taking initiative to determine if the measure appropriately captures the dispositional nature of Willingness to Work Hard. Future research should continue to examine if proactive personality or other motivational constructs are an appropriate fit for the RAW model.

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