Proactive employees provide big benefits.

• Position: The Workforce

Do genetic factors or environmental factors influence employee proactivity? A psychological sciences professor at Kansas State University, Manhattan, is using twin studies to understand the nature versus nurture debate of the workplace. His answer: the interaction between the genetic and environmental factors determines why some employees are more proactive than others.

"It's more like nature and nurture rather than nature versus nurture," explains Wendong Li. "It is the reciprocal relationship between people's dispositions and their work experiences that can make them more or less proactive. In addition to dispositional factors, such as genetic endowments, they are affected by coworkers, supervisors, and the type of organization and culture of the company where they work."

In his studies, Li also has found that environmental factors more likely determine how much money proactive employees earn, while genetics more likely determine job satisfaction. Li takes an unconventional approach in his research and applies molecular genetics, such as the use of DNA, to the field of organizational psychology. His research uses a nationwide database of identical and fraternal twins to piece together influences from environmental and genetic factors.

"If the similarity between identical twins is larger than the similarity...