Sense of responsibility mediates proactive personality and prosocial behavior in nursing undergraduates: a cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: The prosocial behavior of undergraduate nursing students is vital for the future nursing workforce. Despite its importance, research on their prosocial behavior, particularly regarding proactive personality and sense of responsibility, is limited, especially compared to the extensive studies on adolescents. Objective: This study aims to investigate the mediating role of sense of responsibility in the relationship between proactive personality and prosocial behavior among undergraduate nursing students. Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted to recruit 526 nursing and midwifery students. The sense of responsibility, proactive personality, and prosocial behavior scales were applied in this study. We employed Pearson’s correlation to assess the relationships between variables and the bootstrap method to test for mediation. All statistical analyses were performed using SPSS22.0. Results: There was a positive correlation between proactive personality and prosocial behavior (r = 0.530, p < 0.05), as well as between sense of responsibility and prosocial behavior (r = 0.558, p < 0.05). Additionally, a strong positive correlation was observed between sense of responsibility and proactive personality (r = 0.747, p < 0.05). The mediating effect of sense of responsibility on the relationship between proactive personality and prosocial behavior was estimated to be 0.33 (95% CI: 0.17, 0.47). Conclusion: The present study elucidated a significant mediating role of sense of responsibility in the relationship between proactive personality and prosocial behavior among undergraduate nursing students. These findings indicate that nursing education may be enhanced by incorporating responsibility training into the curriculum, which could be achieved through the integration of moral education components and the implementation of course-based ideological and political education aimed at fostering students’ sense of responsibility and prosocial behavior.