Blurring boundaries: the draining impact of proactive personality on remote workers’ well-being

Purpose – While the literature has well established the beneficial effect of a proactive personality on employee well-being, its impact in remote working settings remains underexplored. Drawing on resource drain theory, this study aims to examine this relationship in remote working settings, also considering the mediating roles of attitudes towards flexible work, and psychological detachment. Design/methodology/approach – A sample of 592 Italian remote workers participated in a survey designed to measure the effect of proactive personality on well-being, attitudes towards flexible work and psychological detachment. Data were analysed using a regression-based serial multiple mediation model (PROCESS, Model 6) to identify the indirect effects. Findings – The results revealed the draining effect of proactive personality on remote workers’ well-being, showing that attitudes towards flexible work and psychological detachment serially mediated this path. Originality – This study highlights the double-edged nature of proactive personality in remote working contexts, challenging the traditional view of proactivity as uniformly beneficial and suggesting that its effects on well-being may depend on contextual and personal conditions.