Psychological capital and performance of Portuguese civil servants: exploring neutralizers in the context of an appraisal system

Unpacking the optimistic mindset of business students towards entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurial ventures are established in large numbers in China. The success rate of these entrepreneurial ventures is lower than that of new startups. Mismanagement and a lack of creative skills among entrepreneurs are cited as reasons for entrepreneurial failure in China. The current study investigates the impact of entrepreneurial networking and new venture intention on entrepreneurial success in China, with psychological capital and entrepreneurial optimism serving as moderators. 483 responses were collected from business students in China for data analysis. The findings of the study reveal that the impact of entrepreneurial networking and new venture intention on entrepreneurial success in China, with the moderating role of psychological capital and entrepreneurial optimism, is significant. The theoretical framework of this research has novelty as it introduces new moderating relationships of psychological capital and entrepreneurial optimism in the model of entrepreneurial success. Practically, this study has revealed that entrepreneurial success can be achieved with entrepreneurial networking, entrepreneurial optimism, psychological capital, and new venture intention. The directions of this research point out additional gaps in the literature that scholars should discuss in subsequent studies.

Development and initial validation of the psychological capital scale for nurses in Chinese local context

BACKGROUND

Psychological capital is affected by different cultures and professional characteristics and its constituent dimensions and evaluation tools are heterogeneous. There is a lack of measurements for assessing nurses' psychological capital considering nursing professional characteristics and Chinese cultural impacts.

AIMS

To develop a psychological capital scale that conforms to the Chinese cultural background and the characteristics of nursing profession, and evaluate the preliminary validation of the Nurses Psychological Capital Scale.

METHODS

Nurses were conveniently recruited from two tertiary hospitals, Hebei, China. The research process included three steps: item development (Delphi survey and pilot survey), scale development (item analysis and exploratory factor analysis), scale validation (reliability and validity test).

RESULTS

Exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis showed that the 43-item scale comprised three factors (work task-oriented psychological capital, interpersonal relationship-oriented psychological capital and learning development-oriented psychological capital). Exploratory factor analysis showed the factor loadings ranging from 0.460 to 1.029. Three factors explained 68.71% of the variance. Confirmatory factor analysis showed an adequate model fit (x²/df =2.839, RMR = 0.041, RMSEA = 0.078, IFI = 0.872, TLI = 0.863, CFI = 0.871, PNFI = 0.768). The Cronbach's α for the scale was 0.975. The item-level content validity index (I-CVI) was 0.83 ~ 1.00, scale-level average content validity index (S-CVI/Ave) was 0.988.

CONCLUSION

The Nurse Psychological Capital Scale had good reliability and validity, which is a reliable evaluation measure for assessing psychological capital among nurses.

Psychometric properties of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (KKaPsy)

BACKGROUND

The aim of the study was to prepare and design a Polish version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire. The psychometric tool allows synthetic assessment of four personal resources known to play a significant role in effective functioning, viz. self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience.

PARTICIPANTS AND PROCEDURE

The psychometric properties of the questionnaire were developed in two studies, the first one involving 308 people (166 women and 142 men) and the second involving 206 people (111 women and 95 men).

RESULTS

Confirmatory factor analysis confirmed that the tool has a four-component structure with an overall score. It is characterized by satisfactory internal consistency (α = .73-.86), stability (rtt = .85-.92) and construct validity.

CONCLUSIONS

The Psychological Capital Questionnaire is a reliable and valid tool that can be used in research and in practice.

Coping with the crisis: the effects of psychological capital and coping behaviors on perceived stress

Purpose

The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically altered the daily lives of millions of people around the world, substantially increasing anxiety and stress levels for many. Psychological capital (PsyCap), a multidimensional construct that includes hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy, may serve as a resource for helping people more effectively cope with uncertainty resulting in lower levels of perceived stress. The authors hypothesize a negative relationship between PsyCap and perceived stress that is partially and differentially mediated by adaptive and maladaptive coping styles. The authors further hypothesize that work context (home vs workplace) will moderate the relationships between coping styles and perceived stress.

Design/methodology/approach

After receiving Institutional Review Board approval, data were collected during the first week of May 2020 using an online survey. The hypothesized model was tested using structural equation modeling (SEM) techniques, specifically Mplus 8. The authors validated their initial findings using PROCESS Model 14 with 5,000 boot-strapped samples and a 95% confidence interval.

Findings

The authors’ results show that adaptive and maladaptive coping styles differentially mediate the effects of PsyCap on perceived stress with the indirect effects of PsyCap on perceived stress through maladaptive coping being stronger than the indirect effects through adaptive coping. The authors found support for the relationships in our hypothesized model.

Practical implications

The authors’ findings suggest that health interventions aimed at increasing PsyCap may be an effective means of reducing maladaptive coping and perceived stress. Future research should continue to explore PsyCap as a potential means of shaping positive health behaviors.

Originality/value

This study makes a unique contribution to the literature by explaining how PsyCap operates through coping to affect perceptions of stress in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Resilience in Organizations: An Integrative Multilevel Review and Editorial Introduction

The interest of organization and management researchers in the resilience concept has steadily grown in recent years. Although there is consensus about the importance of resilience in organizational contexts, many important research questions remain. For example, it is still largely unclear how resilience functions at different levels of analysis in organizations and how these various levels interact. In this special issue, we seek to advance knowledge about the complex resilience construct. For laying a foundation, in this editorial introduction we offer an integrative literature review of previous resilience research at three different levels of analysis (i.e., individual, team, and organization). Furthermore, we demonstrate what is already known about resilience as a multilevel construct and interactions among different resilience levels. Based on the results of our literature review, we identify salient research gaps and highlight some of the more promising areas for future research on resilience. Finally, we present an overview of the articles in this special issue and highlight their contributions in light of the gaps identified herein.

Positive Psychological Capital as a Predictor of Satisfaction With the Fly-In Fly-Out Model

The flexibility of markets and international agreements have lured a growing number of companies to expand their business beyond frontiers in search for new markets and a bigger business network. Specifically, expatriates became keystones to implant and promote the so desired expansion into international markets, Particularly, Fly-in fly-out (FIFO) flexpatriates. Although FIFO work practices are widely used, little is known about how to promote these professionals’ perceived job satisfaction (JS) across the course of their work cycles. That is why the goal of our research is to test the positive psychological capital (PsyCap) applicability to Portuguese FIFO flexpatriates. In the midst of the positive psychology theories, Luthans et al. (2007b) underline that workers are the psychological capital of any organization. Therefore, the development of the PsyCap becomes crucial and also contributes to the promotion of JS, nowadays a construct intertwined with well-being. As such, we developed and applied a HERO–(hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism)–micro-intervention in order to assess whether it moderated the relationship between a FIFO flexpatriates PsyCap and their JS. The research took place over three distinct moments, both PsyCap and JS were measured before and after the HERO micro-intervention, and again 3 months later. The data collected shows that a positive correlation exists between FIFO flexpatriates PsyCap and JS. Moreover, our results pointed out that the micro-intervention enhanced FIFO flexpatriates PsyCap, and also showed that this increase lasted over (at least) 3 months.

Psychometric Properties of Satisfaction with Life Scale (SWLS) and Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24) in the Lithuanian Population

This study aimed to explore psychometric properties of satisfaction with life scale (SWLS) and psychological capital questionnaire (PCQ-24) in the Lithuanian representative sample (n = 2003, M = 50.67, SD = 17.46). It was significant to validate instruments concerning the fact that Lithuanians' life satisfaction surveys demonstrated divergent results depending on the assessment tools they used. This study applied the SWLS, created by Diener et al. (1985), and the PCQ-24, created by Luthans et al. (2007). The findings demonstrated the internal consistency of the SWLS instrument, evidencing it as an adequate measure to evaluate satisfaction with life (α = 0.893; TLI = 0.988; NFI = 0.997; RMSEA = 0.059 [0.033-0.088]; CFI = 0.998; SRMR = 0.0077; AVE = 0.764; CR = 0.886). The Lith-PCQ-21 analysis demonstrated the internal consistency of the instrument (α = 0.957) and good fit of the factorial structure (χ2 = 2305.383; DF = 185; TLI = 0.915; NFI = 0.920; RMSEA = 0.077 [0.075-0.080]; CFI = 0.925; SRMR = 0.0450; AVE = 0.814; CR = 0.946), evidencing the instrument as an adequate measure to evaluate psychological capital. This research confirmed that both instruments (SWLS and Lith-PCQ-21) not only have an acceptable validity, including construct validity, but they are also interrelated (χ2 = 3088.762; DF = 294; TLI = 0.913; NFI = 0.914; RMSEA = 0.070 [0.068-0.073]; CFI = 0.922; SRMR = 0.0469), and can be considered appropriate for monitoring life satisfaction and psychological capital of the Lithuanian population.

Measuring psychological capital: Revision of the Compound Psychological Capital Scale (CPC-12)

This article provides information about the psychometric limitations of the original Compound Psychological Capital Scale (CPC-12) and suggests a revised version CPC-12R, a free-to-use measure of Psychological Capital. The investigation consisted of three studies: two of these identified psychometric limitations of the original scale, and the third presented the revised version of the scale. The first study did not confirm the hypothesized four-factor structure of the CPC-12 on a sample of Czech teachers (n = 282) and found psychometric limitations in the resilience subscale. The second study identified the same problem using secondary analyses of the original data from two samples of German employees (n = 202 and 321 respectively). The third study proposed a revised version of the scale with new items for resilience, and provided support for reliability and factorial validity of the new CPC-12R on a sample of Czech employees (n = 333). CPC-12R demonstrated a better fit to the theoretically supported model of Psychological Capital than CPC-12, and further displays adequate psychometric properties to be recommended for application in both research and practice.

Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24): Preliminary Evidence of Psychometric Validity of the Brazilian Version

Abstract The PCQ-24 is the main international measure for assessing psychological capital (PsyCap) in organizational contexts. In order to evaluate its adaptation to the Brazilian context, this study aimed to verify preliminary evidences of its psychometric validity. Data collection was conducted online with 749 employees from all regions of Brazil. Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to examine the quality of fit of the second-order factor structure of PCQ-24. The fit indicators were satisfactory (χ2= 742.10, χ2/df= 4.01, p< .001, SRMR= .05, CFI= .91, GFI= .90, TLI= .90, RMSEA= .06). Cronbach’s alpha was .92 and the composite reliability coefficient was .95; in addition, a multigroup confirmatory factorial analysis, comparing male and female participants, demonstrated that the scale is adequate for both groups. These results indicate, in a preliminary way, the validity of PCQ-24 as a measure of psychological capital in the Brazilian labor context.

Whence, how and when psychological capital enhances job performance: Insights from an east–west conceptual synthesis

The positive core construct of psychological capital (PsyCap) continues to garner a great deal of enduring heed from academicians and practitioners alike. While studies have continually been attesting to PsyCap’s positive influence on job performance, there is an obvious silence in the literature as to the cross-cultural implications for PsyCap formation and management. Besides, little is known about the underlying mechanisms and the team-level boundary conditions of the PsyCap–job performance relationship. Addressing these gaps, this article speculates a blend of ancient Indian and contemporary Western psychological perspectives. In particular, we theorize the role of trigunas (three trait-like components namely sattwa, rajas and tamas) on PsyCap formation, the mediating role of organization-based self-esteem (OBSE) in the PsyCap–job performance relationship and the moderating role of supervisors’ authentic leadership behaviour in the relationship between trigunas, PsyCap, OBSE and job performance of their followers at the individual level. Research propositions based on the proposed conceptual model are presented. Implications of such a conceptual blend for cross-cultural management and future research directions conclude the article.

Antecedent and Consequences of Psychological Capital of Entrepreneurs

Psychological capital is critical for entrepreneurial resilience and sustainability. The purpose of this study is to examine a comprehensive model of the relationships between the antecedents and consequences of the psychological capital of entrepreneurs. A data sample of 208 entrepreneurs from the Philippines was analyzed with Structural Equation Modeling. The results found that organizational climate, organizational justice, leader-member exchange, authentic leadership have significant and positive influences on psychological capital, while occupational stressor is significantly associated with psychological capital. Among them, authentic leadership has the strongest impact on psychological capital. Results also found that psychological capital has significant and positive influences on entrepreneurs’ job satisfaction, performance, attitude, organizational citizenship behavior, while it also has negative influences on undesirable behavior. Theoretical and practical implications are discussed.

Psychological Capital Questionnaire - Short Version (PCQ-12): evidence of Validity of The Brazilian Version

Abstract This study aimed to show evidence of validity for the Brazilian short version (12 items) of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-12). Three independent samples participated in the study, totaling 1771 subjects (64.3% women, 32.9% men and 2.9% undeclared), aged 18-79 years (M = 38.59, SD = 12.98). Confirmatory factor analyses showed acceptable adjustment indices for the four-factor structure (self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism) and for a second-order structure with a general factor of psychological capital explaining the four primary factors. Multi-group confirmatory factor analyses found configural, metric and scalar invariance of the measure for the different samples as well as for men and women. Finally, convergent validity analyses found a positive and moderate correlation of PCQ-12 with satisfaction with life and subjective happiness, as well as a negative and moderate correlation with perceived stress and depression.

Why does performance management not perform?

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to ask why poor performance management practices persist in Portugal, in the middle of claims to increase productivity.

Design/methodology/approach

An inductive micro-practice analysis is used to understand barriers to management practice that do not require massive institutional changes.

Findings

The practice of performance management in Portugal typically displays three weaknesses: (1) insufficient planning (2) process and integrity issues, and (3) a non-meritocratic logic.

Research limitations/implications

The paper discusses the important topic of persistence of bad practices, showing how institutionalized patterns might be difficult to eradicate even they are suboptimal.

Practical implications

The authors identity key issues in the functioning of performance management, therefore helping managers in developing remedies to improve the quality of their practice.

Originality/value

The paper explains the persistence of bad management practice whose continuity hinders not only organizations’ effectiveness but also that of their members.

How work–family enrichment influence innovative work behavior: Role of psychological capital and supervisory support

This paper examines the relationship between bi-directional work–family enrichment, psychological capital, and supervisor support in promoting innovative work behavior. We hypothesized that work-to-family enrichment and family-to-work enrichment would have a positive relation with psychological capital. Further, we examined that psychological capital would mediate the relationship between (i) work-to-family enrichment and innovative work behavior, and (ii) family-to-work enrichment and innovative work behavior. We also studied the role of supervisor support as a predictor or moderator for catalyzing innovative work behavior. Data were collected through questionnaire survey from 398 service-sector employees. We analyzed the data using structural equation modeling. Building on the theoretical foundation of broaden-and-build theory, we establish that both work-to-family enrichment and family-to-work enrichment were positively related to psychological capital. Psychological capital fully mediated between bi-directional enrichment and innovative work behavior. Supervisor support was directly related to innovative work behavior. We also suggest interventions for facilitating innovative work behavior.

LMX and employee satisfaction: mediating effect of psychological capital

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between leader-member exchange (LMX), job satisfaction (JS), life satisfaction (LS), and psychological capital (PC) for employee relation management.

Design/methodology/approach

A total of 319 valid questionnaires were received from employees of financial and electronics manufacturing industries in Taiwan, and they were then analyzed using a structuring equation model with SPSS 12.0 and LISREL 8.8.

Findings

Good LMX increases psychological capital. Psychological capital enhances both JS and LS, and psychological capital serves as a full mediator for both JS and LS. A moderating effect of industrial characteristics is found between LMX and LS and between psychological capital and LS.

Practical implications

The findings suggest that managers need to focus on leadership style in order to develop employees’ life and JS through building psychological capital.

Originality/value

This study not only obtained further support for predictions derived from the LMX theory but was also a more extensive analysis of the meaningful relationships between job and LS with a mediating effect of psychological capital on employee relation management.

Reliability and Construct Validity of the Portuguese Version of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire

The Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) is the most commonly used measure for assessing psychological capital in work settings. Although several studies confirmed its factorial validity, most validation studies only examined the four-factor structure preconized by Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio, not attending to empirical evidence on alternative factorial structures. The present study aimed to test the psychometric properties of the Portuguese version of the PCQ, by using two independent samples (NS1 = 542; NS2 = 115) of Portuguese employees. We conducted a series of confirmatory factor analyses and found that, unlike previous findings, a five-factor solution of the PCQ best fitted the data. The evidence obtained also supported the existence of a second-order factor, psychological capital. The coefficients of internal consistency, as measured by Cronbach's alpha, were adequate and test-retest reliability suggested that the PCQ presented a lower stability than personality factors. Convergent validity, assessed with average variance extracted, revealed problems in the optimism subscale. The discriminant validity of the PCQ was confirmed by its correlations with Positive and Negative Affect and Big Five personality factors. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that this measure has incremental validity over personality and affect when predicting job performance.

Advancing OB Research

This article traces the progression of psychological capital (PsyCap) research from its emergence to its current state, now after a decade, including a recent meta-analysis and a critical review of the PsyCap literature. PsyCap is presented here as an example of initializing, building, expanding, generalizing, and applying a new research stream in the field of organizational behavior. Emphasis is placed on the critical role of early and ongoing theory building, rigorous measurement, design and implementation of evidence-based empirical studies and interventions, and strategic collaboration across disciplines, cultures, and levels of analysis. Recommendations for assimilation, visibility, and moving forward within the academic and professional communities are offered.

Psychological capital, Big Five traits, and employee outcomes

Purpose

– The aim of this paper was to examine the incremental validity of positive psychological capital (PsyCap) in predicting several important employee outcomes while controlling for a full range of personality traits.

Design/methodology/approach

– Using a cross-sectional field study design, the authors collected data from 373 employees in South Korea.

Findings

– Hierarchical multiple regression analyses revealed that employees' PsyCap is related to their perceived performance, turnover intention, work happiness, and subjective well-being, even after controlling for the Big Five personality traits.

Research limitations/implications

– By controlling for the Big Five traits, this study was able to evaluate the role of PsyCap more precisely. However, as the data were collected from the same source at one point in time, common method variance is a potential issue.

Practical implications

– The findings suggest that managers need to focus on developing employees' PsyCap, given its unique effect on the outcome variables.

Social implications

– By developing employees' PsyCap, organizations could turn work into a significant source of happiness and life satisfaction for their employees.

Originality/value

– This study identified the broad and unique effect of PsyCap on work and life outcomes beyond personality traits.