Nurturing psychological capital: an examination of organizational antecedents: the role of employee perceptions of teamwork, training opportunities and leader–member exchange

Abstract

Purpose

This paper uses conservation of resources (COR) theory to examine antecedents of psychological capital (PsyCap). Past research shows that employees with high personal resources such as PsyCap also have high work performance. Hence, organizations need information about how to enhance PsyCap. This paper extends existing research by examining potential antecedents of PsyCap. A total of three potential antecedents are tested, including perceptions of individual-level cooperation between employees (i.e. teamwork), relationships between employees and their supervisors (i.e. supervisor–subordinate relationships) and a human resource (HR) practice (i.e. training opportunities).

Design/methodology/approach

Structural equation modeling (SEM) was used to compare the impact of organizational factors on US and Australian employees' PsyCap.

Findings

The results indicate a significant direct effect of leader–member exchange (LMX) onto PsyCap and a significant indirect effect between LMX and PsyCap through teamwork and through training opportunities for employees in Australia and the USA. Teamwork and training opportunities partially mediate the impact of LMX onto PsyCap for both Australian and US employees.

Practical implications

Australian employees are likely to reduce their performance because of a perceived loss of personal resources and/or may even experience burnout and/or become a stress-related workers compensation statistic.

Originality/value

The findings suggest that employees in Australia perceived significantly lower levels of supportive resources to draw upon, including from their managers and peers. On applying COR theory, when comparing employees, it was observed that those who perceive fewer resources will be less equipped to produce resource gains. Taking into consideration that employees require the use of resources to maintain personal resources, Australian employees have fewer resources at their disposal to maintain their personal resources (i.e. PsyCap).

Citation

Xerri, M.J., Farr-Wharton, B. and Brunetto, Y. (2021), "Nurturing psychological capital: an examination of organizational antecedents: the role of employee perceptions of teamwork, training opportunities and leader–member exchange", Personnel Review, Vol. 50 No. 9, pp. 1854-1872. https://doi.org/10.1108/PR-05-2019-0222