Abstract This article examines whether employee personal initiative depends on the degree of grateful disposition and LeaderMember exchange (LMX) in Chinese enterprises. Results of hierarchical regression analysis shows that personal initiative is affected by grateful disposition and LMX. Specifically, LMX and psychological ownership mediates the effect of grateful disposition on personal initiative. Additionally, psychological ownership also mediate the effect of LMX on personal initiative. The conclusions show that grateful disposition plays an important role in the process of building and getting LMX of a high quality, which can also enhance psychological ownership, and then makes one work more initiatively. The conclusions reveal that LMX may provide an environmental support for personal initiative, and psychological ownership can promote personal initiative. Thus, organizations should pay attention to employees’ grateful disposition in the selection field and develop measures of improving LMX and strengthening employees’ experience of psychological ownership to stimulate personal initiative.
2014, Vol. 11 
