Positive Psychology at Work:

Psychological Capital

Lutherans and his colleagues scoured the psychological literature to identify positive psychological states that could be measured, developed and managed to improve performance for the individual and the organization. They were looking for states that were life-enhancing and quantifiable. They found four key contenders: self-efficacy (confidence), hope, optimism and resilience. They dubbed these collectively as an individual's psychological capital (PsyCap). They haven't ruled out finding more psychological states that fit their criteria. Research suggests that PsyCap, the combined factor of the four separate capacities, is a better predictor of performance, satisfaction and absenteeism than the individual component capacities (Youssef and Lutherans, 2010). In other words, taken together, these four capabilities add up to more than the sum of their parts: both separately and together they increase an individual's capacity. (For a formal definition see Supplement 6.1.)

PsyCap has been found to relate to desirable organizational performance in a number of important ways. For example, measures of PsyCap have been found to predict performance, satisfaction and absenteeism and be related to organizational commitment and an intention to remain in the organization (Youssef and Lutherans, 2010). The development of PsyCap adds value to organizational assets such as financial capital, human capital (defined as knowledge) and social capital (networks). Clearly, for this ...