Proactive Orientation and Individual Activism as Causes of Personal Achievement and Subjective Well-Being

In this research the causal influences among proactive orientation, individual activism, personal achievement, and subjective well-being in the world as a whole and in three world-system zones based on the 5th wave World Values Survey dataset are examined. To test the first and second hypotheses, structural equation modeling in MPlus 6.12 was conducted. The SEM modeling results for the entire sample are the following. Hypothesis 1 was fully confirmed: 1) person’s high proactive orientation leads to intense individual activism, which promotes high level of personal achievement and thus contributes to higher subjective well-being. Hypothesis 2 was only partially confirmed: 2.1) person’s proactive orientation does have a direct influence on personal achievement; 2.2) however, proactive orientation and individual activism have a direct though tiny influence on subjective well-being. To examine the third hypothesis, a multiple group analysis in MPlus 6.12 was performed. The comparison of regression coefficients for the three world-system zones generated these findings. Hypothesis 3 was rejected: 3.1) there are relatively small differences between the degrees of influence of proactive orientation on individual activism, of individual activism on personal achievement, and of individual activism on subjective well-being in the three world-system zones; 3.2) the positive influence of person’s personal achievement on subjective well-being is the strongest in the periphery and is weaker in the semiperiphery and core; 3.3) moreover, the degree of positive direct influence of person’s proactive orientation on personal achievement and total influence on subjective well-being is the strongest in the semiperiphery and is weaker in the periphery and core