The now recognized core construct of psychological capital, or simply PsyCap, draws from positive psychology in general and positive organizational behavior (POB) in particular. The first-order ...positive psychological resources that make up PsyCap include
h
ope,
e
fficacy,
r
esilience, and
o
ptimism, or the HERO within. These four best meet the inclusion criteria of being theory- and research-based, positive, validly measurable, state-like, and having impact on attitudes, behaviors, performance and well-being. The article first provides the background and precise meaning of PsyCap and then comprehensively reviews its measures, theoretical mechanisms, antecedents and outcomes, levels of analysis, current status and needed research, and finally application. Particular emphasis is given to practical implications, which focuses on PsyCap development, positive leadership, and novel applications such as the use of video games and gamification techniques. The overriding theme throughout is that PsyCap has both scientific, evidence-based rigor and practical relevance.
Although the value of positivity has been assumed over the years, only recently has it become a major focus area for theory building, research, and application in psychology and now organizational ...behavior. This review article examines, in turn, selected representative positive traits (Big Five personality, core self-evaluations, and character strengths and virtues), positive state-like psychological resource capacities (efficacy, hope, optimism, resiliency, and psychological capital), positive organizations (drawn from positive organization scholarship), and positive behaviors (organizational citizenship and courageous principled action). This review concludes with recommendations for future research and effective application.
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Drawing from the foundation of positive psychology and the recently emerging positive organizational behavior, two studies (N = 1,032 and N = 232) test hypotheses on the impact that the selected ...positive psychological resource capacities of hope, optimism, and resilience have on desired work-related employee outcomes. These outcomes include performance (self-reported in Study 1 and organizational performance appraisals in Study 2), job satisfaction, work happiness, and organizational commitment. The findings generally support that employees' positive psychological resource capacities relate to, and contribute unique variance to, the outcomes. However, hope, and, to a lesser extent, optimism and resilience, do differentially contribute to the various outcomes. Utility analysis supports the practical implications of the study results.
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Entrepreneurship involves numerous risks and uncertainties. Positive psychological resources such as courage, as well as confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience (collectively referred to as ...psychological capital), can be valuable for entrepreneurs. This study examines that relationship between entrepreneurs' courage, psychological capital, and life satisfaction. Results show that entrepreneurs' courage is related to their life satisfaction, even after accounting for various characteristics of the entrepreneur (demographics and human capital) and the venture (venture size and survival). Moreover, psychological capital fully mediates the relationship between courage and life satisfaction. This is the first study to investigate courage empirically in the context of entrepreneurship, and one of a few studies to apply PsyCap in the entrepreneurial context. It is also the first study to jointly examine courage, PsyCap, and life satisfaction. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.
Although there is substantial support for the relationship between mentoring and work performance, empirical research has yet to fully explore the plausible positive psychological explanatory ...mechanisms of this relationship. This four‐year study examines the effects of mentoring on protégés' psychological capital (PsyCap; a higher‐order psychological resource that includes hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism) and performance outcomes (formal performance appraisals) over time, in the context of an existing formal organizational mentoring program. PsyCap is examined as a mediator in the relationship between mentoring and performance. Utilizing 115 mentor‐protégé pairs, results support the effectiveness of the mentoring program in developing PsyCap and enhancing performance 1 year later in three cohorts of protégés, even after controlling for preprogram performance. Furthermore, PsyCap is supported as a full mediator between mentoring and performance. This is the first empirical study to explore this relationship, and one of the few mentoring studies to collect data over multiple time periods.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Conventional wisdom and recent research have supported the importance of employee positivity. However, empirical analysis has not yet demonstrated potential added value of recently recognized ...psychological capital over the more established positive traits in predicting work attitudes and behaviors. This study found that psychological capital was positively related to extrarole organizational citizenship behaviors (OCBs) and negatively to organizational cynicism, intentions to quit, and counterproductive workplace behaviors. With one exception, psychological capital also predicted unique variance in these outcomes beyond demographics, self-evaluation, personality, and person—organization and person—job fit. The article concludes with implications for future research and practical application.
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This study examines the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap), cynicism, and unsafe behavior in the workplace, and tests the effectiveness of a PsyCap development intervention in ...increasing PsyCap and reducing cynicism and unsafe behavior through a quasi-experimental, pre-post, control group design. Utilizing social cognitive theory (SCT; Bandura, 2001) as an overarching theoretical framework, the study proposes cynicism as a mediator of the relationship between PsyCap and unsafe behavior. Results support the effectiveness of the PsyCap development intervention. Furthermore, multi-group analyses support the hypothesized mediation model, with cynicism as a full a mediator of the relationship between PsyCap and unsafe behavior, in the treatment group, but not the control group, even after accounting for pre-intervention levels of PsyCap, cynicism, and unsafe behavior. Implications for research and practice are presented.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
9.
Psychological Capital Luthans, Fred; Youssef, Carolyn M; Avolio, Bruce J
09/2006
eBook
This book draws from a foundation of positive psychology and recently emerging positive organizational behavior (POB). Its purpose is to introduce the untapped human resource capacity of ...psychological capital, or simply PsyCap. This PsyCap goes beyond traditionally recognized human and social capital and must meet the scientific criteria of theory, research, and valid measurement. To distinguish from other constructs in positive psychology and organizational behavior, to be included in PsyCap the resource capacity must also be “state-like” and thus open to development (as opposed to momentary states or fixed traits) and have performance impact. The positive psychological resource capacities that meet these PsyCap criteria — efficacy (confidence), hope, optimism, and resilience — are covered in separate chapters. These four resource capacities are conceptually and empirically distinct, but also have underlying common processes for striving to succeed and when in combination contribute to a higher-order, core construct of psychological capital. Besides these four, other potential positive constructs such as creativity, wisdom, well being, flow, humor, gratitude, forgiveness, emotional intelligence, spirituality, authenticity, and courage are covered in Chapters 6 and 7. The concluding Chapter 8 summarizes and presents the research demonstrating the performance impact of PsyCap, the PsyCap questionnaire (PCQ) for measurement and the PsyCap Intervention (PCI) for development. Utility analysis indicates that investing in the development of PsyCap can result in a very substantial return. In total, this book provides the theory, research, measure, and method of application for the new resource of Psychological Capital that can be developed and sustained for competitive advantage.
This study investigates the relationship between academic engagement, psychological capital (PsyCap) resources (efficacy, hope, optimism, resilience) and academic performance. Data were collected in ...two different universities, one in Spain (N = 389) and another in Portugal (N = 243). Undergraduate students completed self-report questionnaires regarding academic engagement and Psychological Capital. Academic performance was assessed through Grade Point Average, provided by the universities at the end of the exam period. Results showed a positive relationship between academic engagement, PsyCap, and academic performance in both samples. Results also supported PsyCap as a full mediator in the relationship between academic engagement and academic performance. Exploration of alternative models yielded a superior fit for the proposed model. Accordingly, academically engaged students were likely to experience higher levels of psychological resources, which in turn positively impacted their academic performance. The results point to the importance of considering psychological predictors, rather than the prevalent reliance on traditional predictors of academic performance.
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