Knowledge and abilities. Knowledge and abilities have been suggested to influence
individuals’ proactive behavior at work. Fay and Frese (2001, p.104) argued: “To be able to take
initiative, one needs a good and thorough understanding of what one’s work is, that is, one needs
job-relevant knowledge, skills, and cognitive ability.” There has been some empirical support for
this argument. For example, for employees in East and West Germany, Fay and Frese (2001) found
moderately positive relationships between job qualification and both self-rated and other-rated
personal initiative (r=.24 to .48, p