Psycap Case Study

Psychological capital (PsyCap) has been conceptualized by Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio (2007) as being a core construct and defined as, “an individual psychological state of development and is composed of the four positive psychological components – self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience” (Luthans et al., 2007, p3 as cited in Riolli, Savicki, & Richards, 2012). To further understand the concept of PsyCap, its components should be first discussed:
(1) Self efficacy, is where an individual has enough confidence to exert necessary effort in order to succeed in challenging tasks and responsibilities. It refers to a person who embraced difficulties. (2) Optimism, is where a person having a positive outlook in his/her present situation

These characteristics are considered to describe and predict a person’s behavior more accurately when taken collectively, than when these components are considered independently (Luthans, et al., 2007 as cited in Roberts et al., 2011). Luthans et al. (2007) found that PsyCap, which is composed of the four components is a better predictor of job performance and satisfaction, than the individual factors of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience. (as cited in Roberts et al.,

Luthans et al. (2007 as cited in Avey, Reichard, Luthan, & Mhatre, 2011) argued that PsyCap has a positive impact on attitudes, behavior, and performance of an individual. Prior research has examined the relationship of PsyCap and workplace behaviors. It was found that a person who possess a high level of PsyCap has the higher psychological resource, and tend to execute positive workplace behavior (Roberts et al., 2009). Previous studies have shown that cognitive-behavioral approaches such as PsyCap would be the most effective coping skills to reduce anxiety and improve the perception on the quality of work life (Van der Hek & Plomp, 1997; an der Klink, Blonk, Scheme, & van Dijk, 2001, as cited in Avey, Luthans, & Jensen, 2009). Thus, using the stress-buffering hypothesis, this study predicts that PsyCap will moderate the influence of POO on employee incivility. According to Cohen and Wills (1985), the stress buffering hypothesis suggests that PsyCap may prevent an individual from evaluating situation of event as stressful or PsyCap may strengthen individual capacity to deal with the situation (as cited in Tang, Restubog, & Cayayan