The research isrelevant is due to the scientific interest in studying the concept of a proactive person in social and economic psychology. It is primarily connected with the process of the society digitalization, which is characterized by the increasing complexity and accelerated solutions of the management tasks. The focus is on proactive employees who are able to independently set tasks, take responsibility, and initiate changes. The purpose of the research is to clarify, update, and systematize the main theoretical approaches to the study of a proactive person and proactive behavior, including both classical papers and current theoretical and empirical studies. Methods (tools): analysis of 30 scientifi c papers which were selected from the abstract and citation academic databases of Scopus and Web of Science. We selected the articles with the highest academic citation index. The search query included the following terms: “proactive person”, “proactive behavior”, “performance and effi ciency”. Results: the analysis of the main theories and approaches to the study of a proactive person, proactive job behavior, and the connection with productivity and effi ciency allowed us to systematize the information and to identify the prevailing trends in the study of a proactive person in the scientifi c literature; the study has revealed their changes in time perspective; the structure and content of the construct “proactive person” have been defi ned and confi rmed; the main indicators of proactivity are defi ned: emotional stability, initiative, perseverance, intensity of social contacts, cognitive fl exibility, tolerance to ambiguity, altruistic orientation and purposeful motivation; the study has also revealed a correlation between the main characteristics of a proactive person and employee productivity, personal eff ectiveness, contributing to organizational success. Main conclusions: the study proposes new directions of research in the fi eld of an employee’s proactive behavior which allows us to explain specifi c mechanisms that account for this correlation. Practical signifi cance: the data obtained allows us to reconsider the approaches and basic criteria for selecting and evaluating employees who have the potential for change and who are focused not only on their own performance indicators, but also on organizational success; the results can be implemented in organizational development programs aimed at the formation and development of proactive behavioral strategies.