PurposeThe fascinating topic of work design was demonstrated by academics using work characteristics. There is still much to learn about proactive behavior in contemporary organizations. In this study, proactive behavior was linked to workplace features using a variety of metrics and a motivational state as a mediator.MethodologyIn order to accomplish this, survey research was the writers' favored technique. 279 respondents provided self-reporting information and supervisory assessments, from which we acquired data. The analysis was done using the SMART PLS software.ConclusionThe authors arrive at this conclusion after determining that task, knowledge, and contextual factors were most likely linked to proactive employee behavior; social traits and proactive behavior, however, were indirectly related. When it comes to the association between work qualities (task, knowledge, and contextual factors), the motivated state only partially mediates the relationship while it entirely mediates the relationship between social features and proactive behavior. We encourage further investigation to bolster our findings and broaden our model by discovering additional employee outcomes connected to pro-active behavior and social traits.Originality/valueThe whole relationship between work characteristics and proactive behavior had not been fully explored in other studies. As a result, our research made tremendous progress in our knowledge of how workplace traits and a variety of proactive behaviors connect to motivation.