The service industry's focus on high-quality customer experience necessitates understanding the factors driving employee performance. Frontline employees significantly impact customer evaluations of service quality. This study adopts an interactionist perspective, examining how employee predispositions (proactive personality) and work contexts (organizational climate) interact to influence proactive customer-service performance (PCSP). Proactive personality, characterized by active responses to challenges and environmental shaping, is a valuable asset for organizations. While its impact on various outcomes has been studied, research on its role in service occupations and the underlying mechanisms remains limited. This study addresses this gap by exploring the relationship between proactive personality and PCSP, considering the potential mediating effects of work engagement and perceived meaningful work. Furthermore, it investigates the moderating role of the service-failure recovery climate (SFRC), a work context that may influence the relationship between proactive personality and positive psychological states. The job demands-resources (JD-R) model and positive organizational scholarship provide the theoretical framework for understanding these relationships. The study aims to clarify how and when employees' proactive personalities translate into desirable outcomes in service contexts, contributing to improved management practices and performance.

Existing research highlights the positive impact of proactive personality on individual and organizational outcomes, including job performance and organizational citizenship behavior. However, studies examining its role in service occupations and the underlying mediating mechanisms are scarce. This study addresses these gaps by focusing on proactive customer-service performance (PCSP), a critical aspect of service sector success. The literature review also explores the concept of work engagement as a positive psychological state and its potential mediating role in the relationship between proactive personality and PCSP. The authors also review the concept of perceived meaningful work and its connection to positive work outcomes. Finally, the service failure recovery climate (SFRC) is introduced as a potential moderator that may influence the strength of the relationship between proactive personality and positive psychological states. The study draws upon the JD-R model to frame the relationships between personal resources (proactive personality), job resources (SFRC), and work outcomes (PCSP).

This study employed a moderated parallel mediation model to examine the relationships among proactive personality, PCSP, work engagement, perceived meaningful work, and SFRC. Data were collected from 358 frontline employees and 62 branch managers in three well-known appliance and 3C (computers, communications, and consumer electronics) chain stores in Taiwan. Branch managers provided ratings of their employees' PCSP, while employees self-reported on their proactive personality, work engagement, perceived meaningful work, and perceptions of the SFRC. The constructs were measured using established scales adapted from previous literature, all rated on a 7-point Likert scale. Control variables (age, gender, education, and job tenure) were included for employees. Data analysis involved a two-phased approach: 1) confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) to assess measurement quality and validity and 2) multiple linear ordinary least squares (OLS) regression using the SPSS PROCESS macro (Model 1, 4, and 7) developed by Hayes (2013) for hypothesis testing. Harman's single-factor test addressed common method variance (CMV). Bootstrapping analysis (Preacher et al., 2007) was used to test mediation and moderated-mediation effects. The analysis examined direct and indirect effects, as well as the moderating effect of SFRC on the relationship between proactive personality and the mediating variables.

The results supported the hypotheses. Proactive personality was positively associated with manager-rated PCSP (H1). Work engagement and perceived meaningful work partially mediated the relationship between proactive personality and PCSP (H2 & H3). The bootstrapping analysis revealed significant indirect effects of proactive personality on PCSP through both work engagement (indirect effect = 0.182, 95% CI: [0.13–0.23]) and meaningful work perception (indirect effect = 0.178, 95% CI: [0.12–0.34]). SFRC moderated the positive relationships between proactive personality and both work engagement and perceived meaningful work (H4), with weaker relationships at high SFRC levels. Moderated mediation analysis revealed that the indirect effect of proactive personality on PCSP via both work engagement and meaningful work perception was weaker at high SFRC levels compared to low SFRC levels (H5). This suggests that SFRC plays a compensatory role for individuals with lower proactive personalities but a limited role for highly proactive individuals.

The findings extend the literature by confirming the positive relationship between proactive personality and PCSP in a service context and identifying the mediating roles of work engagement and perceived meaningful work. This supports the JD-R model by demonstrating that proactive personality acts as a personal resource that contributes to positive psychological states and ultimately enhances performance. The moderating effect of SFRC highlights the importance of organizational context in shaping the relationship between personality and performance. The compensatory role of SFRC for less proactive employees suggests that organizational support can mitigate the negative impact of lower proactive personality. The limited effect of high SFRC on highly proactive employees supports the information ceiling effect. These findings have significant implications for managing frontline employees in service industries.

This study contributes to the literature by confirming the positive link between proactive personality and PCSP, mediated by work engagement and perceived meaningful work, and moderated by SFRC. It highlights the importance of recruiting proactive employees, fostering work engagement, and creating a supportive service-failure recovery climate. Future research could utilize longitudinal designs to establish causality, explore other organizational climates, and integrate job characteristics into the model to gain a more comprehensive understanding of the complex relationships involved.

The study's cross-sectional design limits causal inferences. The sample was limited to Taiwanese retail chains, potentially restricting the generalizability of the findings. Common method variance could be a concern despite the use of Harman's single-factor test. Future research should address these limitations using longitudinal designs and more diverse samples.