Psychological capital: A review and synthesis
TL;DR: A detailed and focused review of the existing literature on psychological capital can be found in this article, where the authors call for researchers to pay greater attention to possible multi-level applications of PsyCap research, examine the underlying mechanisms by which PsyCap influences individual-level, team-level and organizational-level outcomes, and identify possible factors that may moderate the relationship between PsyCap and its outcomes.
Abstract: Summary
The concept of psychological capital (PsyCap) has attracted a great deal of interest from both academics and practitioners and has been linked to employee attitudes, behavior and performance at different levels of analysis. Yet, the nature of the concept, its measurement, the factors that influence its development, and when and how it influences individual-level, team-level and organizational-level outcomes are the subject of continued debate in the literature. This article offers a detailed and focused review of the existing literature on PsyCap, with the aim of developing an agenda for future research. In particular, we call for researchers to pay greater attention to possible multi-level applications of PsyCap research, examine the underlying mechanisms by which PsyCap influences individual-level, team-level and organizational-level outcomes, and identify possible factors that may moderate the relationship between PsyCap and its outcomes. In doing this, we provide a roadmap for scholars to progress the development of the field. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
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TL;DR: The first-order positive psychological resources that make up PsyCap include hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism, or the HERO within this article, and 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.
Abstract: 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 hope, efficacy, resilience, and optimism, 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 scient...
551 citations
Cites background or methods from "Psychological capital: A review and..."
...Up to the past few years when the shorter version and the implicit measure covered next began to be increasingly used, the widely recognized PCQ-24 self-report measure was used in almost all PsyCap research (Avey et al. 2011b, Newman et al. 2014)....
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...Newman et al. (2014) review 66 PsyCap studies for performance, attitudinal, behavioral, and well-being outcomes at the individual, team, and organizational levels....
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TL;DR: This essay presents conceptual frameworks in which positivity, particularly PsyCap, can promote well-being, both at and beyond the workplace.
Abstract: Although important and of undeniable significance, decades of extensive research on mental illness and dysfunctional behavior in psychology, sociology and other foundational behavioral science disciplines have generally ignored or failed to contribute to the better understanding of the role that human strengths, flourishing and optimal functioning have for overall well-being. Similarly, the study of work stress, burnout, conflict, dysfunctional attitudes, counterproductive behaviors and other negative constructs that have preoccupied organizational behavior and human resources management scholars and practitioners have also not necessarily shed additional light on the characteristics of exceptional performers or the dynamic processes that facilitate excellence in the workplace. This realization motivated positive psychologists and positive organizational behavior (POB) scholars to launch new and exciting streams of research that focus on positivity in its own right, rather than simply extrapolating existing mainstream research. This essay focuses on one of these streams of research, namely psychological capital or simply PsyCap. We use this stream of research as an example and illustration of positive research in terms of rigor and relevance. We present conceptual frameworks in which positivity, particularly PsyCap, can promote well-being, both at and beyond the workplace.
237 citations
TL;DR: In this article, the authors extend the entrepreneurship literature to include positive psychological capital (an individual or organization's level of psychological resources consisting of hope, optimism, resilience, and confidence) as a salient signal in crowdfunding.
233 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as mentioned in this paper examined the relationships among HPWS, employee resilience and engagement, using a sample of 2040 employees in the Chinese banking industry, and developed three hypotheses to test the relationship between HPWS and employee resilience, resilience and employee engagement.
Abstract: There is now growing interest in employee resilience in the organizational context and its contribution to organizational performance. However, little is known the extent to which high-performance work system (HPWS) contributes towards enhancing employee’s resilience as well as their levels of engagement. This study examines the relationships among HPWS, employee resilience and engagement, using a sample of 2040 employees in the Chinese banking industry. Drawing on the job demands-resources model and strategic/high-performance human resource management theory, we develop three hypotheses to test the relationship between HPWS and employee resilience, resilience and employee engagement, and the mediating effect of resilience on the relationship between HPWS and engagement. All hypotheses are supported and suggest that HPWS can be used as a job resource to positively affect resilience and subsequently employee engagement. The key message of the paper is that employee resilience can be viewed as a set...
215 citations
TL;DR: Wang et al. as discussed by the authors showed that CSR had positive impacts on employee self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism through employee satisfaction with corporate COVID-19 responses.
Abstract: The main purpose of this research was to illustrate how companies contributed to employee psychological capital in tourism during the COVID-19 crisis based on the conservation of resources theory (CoR). Psychological capital including self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism is a key source of support at work, especially during challenging events. With threats to health and job security, employee psychological capital was unlikely to recover on its own naturally. However, tourism companies can augment employee psychological capital through corporate social responsibility (CSR). The effects of CSR on employee psychological capital remains unclear. This research examined differing effects of CSR on self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism. Based on a survey of 430 employees in tourism in China, the results showed that CSR had positive impacts on employee self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism through employee satisfaction with corporate COVID-19 responses. In addition, individual loss orientation strengthened the effects of CSR on employee self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism.
203 citations
Cites background from "Psychological capital: A review and..."
...Evidence shows that psychological capital can significantly influence employee attitudes toward work, work behaviours and performance (Newman et al., 2014)....
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...This consists of positive corporate citizenship behaviour, innovation behaviour, active behaviour, positive work attitudes such as job satisfaction and corporate commitment, engagement, and organizational commitment (Karatepe & Karadas, 2014; Newman et al., 2014)....
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References
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TL;DR: The extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results is examined, potential sources of method biases are identified, the cognitive processes through which method bias influence responses to measures are discussed, the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases is evaluated, and recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and Statistical remedies are provided.
Abstract: Interest in the problem of method biases has a long history in the behavioral sciences. Despite this, a comprehensive summary of the potential sources of method biases and how to control for them does not exist. Therefore, the purpose of this article is to examine the extent to which method biases influence behavioral research results, identify potential sources of method biases, discuss the cognitive processes through which method biases influence responses to measures, evaluate the many different procedural and statistical techniques that can be used to control method biases, and provide recommendations for how to select appropriate procedural and statistical remedies for different types of research settings.
52,531 citations
"Psychological capital: A review and..." refers background in this paper
...Although researchers are increasingly aware of the need to limit CMV between dependent and independent variables by collecting them at different points in time or from different sources (Podsakoff et al., 2003), limited attempt has been...
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...Although researchers are increasingly aware of the need to limit CMV between dependent and independent variables by collecting them at different points in time or from different sources (Podsakoff et al., 2003), limited attempt has been made to deal with CMV between the sub-components of PsyCap....
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Book•
01 Jan 1997TL;DR: SelfSelf-Efficacy (SE) as discussed by the authors is a well-known concept in human behavior, which is defined as "belief in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments".
Abstract: Albert Bandura and the Exercise of Self-Efficacy Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control Albert Bandura. New York: W. H. Freeman (www.whfreeman.com). 1997, 604 pp., $46.00 (hardcover). Enter the term "self-efficacy" in the on-line PSYCLIT database and you will find over 2500 articles, all of which stem from the seminal contributions of Albert Bandura. It is difficult to do justice to the immense importance of this research for our theories, our practice, and indeed for human welfare. Self-efficacy (SE) has proven to be a fruitful construct in spheres ranging from phobias (Bandura, Jeffery, & Gajdos, 1975) and depression (Holahan & Holahan, 1987) to career choice behavior (Betz & Hackett, 1986) and managerial functioning (Jenkins, 1994). Bandura's Self-Efficacy: The Exercise of Control is the best attempt so far at organizing, summarizing, and distilling meaning from this vast and diverse literature. Self-Efficacy may prove to be Bandura's magnum opus. Dr. Bandura has done an impressive job of summarizing over 1800 studies and papers, integrating these results into a coherent framework, and detailing implications for theory and practice. While incorporating prior works such as Social Learning Theory (Bandura, 1977) and "Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency" (Bandura, 1982), Self-Efficacy extends these works by describing results of diverse new research, clarifying and extending social cognitive theory, and fleshing out implications of the theory for groups, organizations, political bodies, and societies. Along the way, Dr. Bandura masterfully contrasts social cognitive theory with many other theories of human behavior and helps chart a course for future research. Throughout, B andura' s clear, firm, and self-confident writing serves as the perfect vehicle for the theory he espouses. Self-Efficacy begins with the most detailed and clear explication of social cognitive theory that I have yet seen, and proceeds to delineate the nature and sources of SE, the well-known processes via which SE mediates human behavior, and the development of SE over the life span. After laying this theoretical groundwork, subsequent chapters delineate the relevance of SE to human endeavor in a variety of specific content areas including cognitive and intellectual functioning; health; clinical problems including anxiety, phobias, depression, eating disorders, alcohol problems, and drug abuse; athletics and exercise activity; organizations; politics; and societal change. In Bandura's words, "Perceived self-efficacy refers to beliefs in one's capabilities to organize and execute the courses of action required to produce given attainments" (p. 3). People's SE beliefs have a greater effect on their motivation, emotions, and actions than what is objectively true (e.g., actual skill level). Therefore, SE beliefs are immensely important in choice of behaviors (including occupations, social relationships, and a host of day-to-day behaviors), effort expenditure, perseverance in pursuit of goals, resilience to setbacks and problems, stress level and affect, and indeed in our ways of thinking about ourselves and others. Bandura affirms many times that humans are proactive and free as well as determined: They are "at least partial architects of their own destinies" (p. 8). Because SE beliefs powerfully affect human behaviors, they are a key factor in human purposive activity or agency; that is, in human freedom. Because humans shape their environment even as they are shaped by it, SE beliefs are also pivotal in the construction of our social and physical environments. Bandura details over two decades of research confirming that SE is modifiable via mastery experiences, vicarious learning, verbal persuasion, and interpretation of physiological states, and that modified SE strongly and consistently predicts outcomes. SE beliefs, then, are central to human self-determination. STRENGTHS One major strength of Self-Efficacy is Bandura's ability to deftly dance from forest to trees and back again to forest, using specific, human examples and concrete situations to highlight his major theoretical premises, to which he then returns. …
46,839 citations
"Psychological capital: A review and..." refers background in this paper
...Self-efficacy, based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1997, 2012), refers to an individual’s confidence in their ability to mobilize their motivation, cognitive resources and courses of action in order to achieve high levels of performance (Stajkovic & Luthans, 1998)....
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...Individuals with high self-efficacy generally have a stronger belief in their ability to control outcomes and succeed in addressing difficult challenges than those low in self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997)....
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TL;DR: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...
Abstract: In this paper, the concept of social capital is introduced and illustrated, its forms are described, the social structural conditions under which it arises are examined, and it is used in an analys...
31,693 citations
"Psychological capital: A review and..." refers background in this paper
...…capital emerged from sociology, and relates to the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to the possession of a durable network of relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition (see Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Grannovetter, 1985; Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998)....
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...relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition (see Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Grannovetter, 1985; Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998)....
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TL;DR: In this article, the extent to which economic action is embedded in structures of social relations, in modern industrial society, is examined, and it is argued that reformist economists who attempt to bring social structure back in do so in the "oversocialized" way criticized by Dennis Wrong.
Abstract: How behavior and institutions are affected by social relations is one of the classic questions of social theory. This paper concerns the extent to which economic action is embedded in structures of social relations, in modern industrial society. Although the usual neoclasical accounts provide an "undersocialized" or atomized-actor explanation of such action, reformist economists who attempt to bring social structure back in do so in the "oversocialized" way criticized by Dennis Wrong. Under-and oversocialized accounts are paradoxically similar in their neglect of ongoing structures of social relations, and a sophisticated account of economic action must consider its embeddedness in such structures. The argument in illustrated by a critique of Oliver Williamson's "markets and hierarchies" research program.
25,601 citations
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01 Jan 2011
TL;DR: The notion of capital is a force inscribed in objective or subjective structures, but it is also a lex insita, the principle underlying the immanent regularities of the social world as mentioned in this paper, which is what makes the games of society, not least the economic game, something other than simple simple games of chance offering at every moment the possibility of a miracle.
Abstract: The social world is accumulated history, and if it is not to be reduced to a discontinuous series of instantaneous mechanical equilibria between agents who are treated as interchangeable particles, one must reintroduce into it the notion of capital and with it, accumulation and all its effects. Capital is accumulated labor (in its materialized form or its ‘incorporated,’ embodied form) which, when appropriated on a private, i.e., exclusive, basis by agents or groups of agents, enables them to appropriate social energy in the form of reified or living labor. It is a vis insita, a force inscribed in objective or subjective structures, but it is also a lex insita, the principle underlying the immanent regularities of the social world. It is what makes the games of society – not least, the economic game – something other than simple games of chance offering at every moment the possibility of a miracle. Roulette, which holds out the opportunity of winning a lot of money in a short space of time, and therefore of changing one’s social status quasi-instantaneously, and in which the winning of the previous spin of the wheel can be staked and lost at every new spin, gives a fairly accurate image of this imaginary universe of perfect competition or perfect equality of opportunity, a world without inertia, without accumulation, without heredity or acquired properties, in which every moment is perfectly independent of the previous one, every soldier has a marshal’s baton in his knapsack, and every prize can be attained, instantaneously, by everyone, so that at each moment anyone can become anything. Capital, which, in its objectified or embodied forms, takes time to accumulate and which, as a potential capacity to produce profits and to reproduce itself in identical or expanded form, contains a tendency to persist in its being, is a force inscribed in the objectivity of things so that everything is not equally possible or impossible. And the structure of the distribution of the different types and subtypes of capital at a given moment in time represents the immanent structure of the social world, i.e. , the set of constraints, inscribed in the very reality of that world, which govern its functioning in a durable way, determining the chances of success for practices.
21,046 citations
"Psychological capital: A review and..." refers background in this paper
...…capital emerged from sociology, and relates to the aggregate of the actual or potential resources which are linked to the possession of a durable network of relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition (see Bourdieu, 1986; Coleman, 1988; Grannovetter, 1985; Nahapiet and Ghoshal, 1998)....
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