Abstract: With the uncertainty brought by the knowledge economic age, any organization that wants to win in the fierce competition
has to encourage the employees work in a more pro-active way, for the initiative of the staff means a lot for the success of the
organization. Pro- activeness means the positiveness, initiativeness, and prospectiveness in changing the current situation. Proactiveness
at workplaces has been gradually becoming a hot topic in the research of organizational behaviors. Based on the literature
review, we first summarize the research background, the definition and connotation, and formative mechanisms and causes of
employees' pro-active behaviors at workplaces, and then based on the literature, we put forward an outlook for the directions of future
research.

Key words: pro-active behavior｜ personal initiative, in-role behavior