Psychological capital as a personal resource in the JD-R model

Date04 June 2018
Pages968-984
Published date04 June 2018
DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1108/PR-08-2016-0213
AuthorSteven L. Grover,Stephen T.T. Teo,David Pick,Maree Roche,Cameron J. Newton
Subject MatterHR & organizational behaviour,Global HRM
Psychological capital as a
personal resource in the
JD-R model
Steven L. Grover
Department of Management, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand
Stephen T.T. Teo
School of Business and Law, Edith Cowan University, Joondalup, Australia
David Pick
School of Management, Curtin University, Perth, Australia
Maree Roche
University of Waikato, Hamilton, New Zealand, and
Cameron J. Newton
School of Management, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, Australia
Abstract
Purpose The purpose of this paper is to demystify the role of the personal resource of psychological capital
(PsyCap) in the job demands-resources model. The theory suggests that personal resources directly influence
perceptions of job demands, job resources, and outcomes. Alternatively, personal resources may moderate the
impact of job demands and job resources on outcomes.
Design/methodology/approach A survey of 401 nurses working in the Australian healthcare
sector explores the relations among PsyCap, job demands and resources, and psychological well-being and
work engagement.
Findings The results suggest that PsyCap directly influences perceptions of job demands and resources
and that it directly influences the outcomes of well-being and engagement. Furthermore, job demands and job
resources mediate the relation of PsyCap with well-being and engagement, respectively.
Research limitations/implications The moderation effect of PsyCap was not supported, which
suggests that PsyCap relates to perceptions as opposed to being a coping mechanism. This finding therefore
narrows the scope of personal resources in this important model.
Originality/value The importance of this study lies in its exploration of various ways that personal
resources can influence this dominant model and in analyzing the global construct of PsyCap as opposed to
some of its constituent parts.
Keywords Quantitative, Nurses, Psychological capital, JD-R model, Engagement, Personal resources
Paper type Research paper
The job demands-resources (JD-R) model robustly predicts how job demands deplete
individuals through an impairment process that results in stress and burnout and how job
resources bolster engagement through a motivational process (Bakker and Demerouti, 2016;
Demerouti et al.,2001; Schaufeli and Taris, 2014).JD-R traditionally focuseson characteristics
of the job as demands and resources. However, recentresearch moves toward consideringthe
role of the individual as a job crafter(Bakker et al., 2012; Hakanen et al., 2017; Petrou et al.,
2017) because individuals bring personal resources to bear on the work situation
(Bakker et al., 2012; Groveret al., 2017; Huang et al., 2016; Xanthopoulou et al., 2011). Personal
resources are aspects of the self that are generally linked to resilience and refer to
individualssense of their ability to control and impact upo ntheir environment suc cessfully
(Xanthopoulou et al., 2007, pp. 123-124). Hence, such personal resources inure an ability
in individuals to influence the job and therefore the demands, resources, and outcomes
to the job.
Personnel Review
Vol. 47 No. 4, 2018
pp. 968-984
© Emerald PublishingLimited
0048-3486
DOI 10.1108/PR-08-2016-0213
Received 23 August 2016
Revised 11 April 2017
27 August 2017
30 November 2017
Accepted 10 February 2018
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
www.emeraldinsight.com/0048-3486.htm
968
PR
47,4
Despite recent research interest in personal resources, the understanding of their
connection to job demands and resources is still not clear. Research shows that personal
resources may behave as other job resources in JD-R (Mayerl et al., 2016), affect perceptions
of job demands (Boudrias et al., 2011), moderate the influence of demands on outcomes
(Grover et al., 2017), or act as mediators (Huang et al., 2016; Xanthopoulou et al., 2011).
The present article contributes to conceptual clarity about personal resources within
the JD-R model by focusing on one particular personal resource psychological capital
(PsyCap).
PsyCap is a global personal resource representing a personspositive appraisal of
circumstances and probability for success based on motivated effort and perseverance
(Luthans, Avolio, Avey and Norman, 2007, p. 550). As such, this construct captures the
essence of future motivation and feelings of capability that drive how individual workers
interact with the constraints and opportunities of their jobs. Previous studies of
personal resources in the JD-R measure various aspects of PsyCap, such as optimism,
hope, and self-efficacy (Xanthopoulou et al., 2011), and ignored the fourth component of
PsyCap resilience. This omission is surprising, first, because personal resources refers to
individual sate resiliency, and second, at least 66 published studies include PsyCap as a
four-dimensional construct in other domains (Newman et al., 2014). The present study
explores how PsyCap as a four-component construct connects to positive outcomes
predicted by the JD-R model.
This study makes two major contributions. The first is that it assesses various ways that
PsyCap affects perceptions and outcomes in the JD-R model. We compare the direct effect of
PsyCap on perceptions of job demands, job resources, and outcome variables, and compare
it to the moderating, or buffering, impact of PsyCap. The second contribution of this study is
to measure global PsyCap by invoking its four components. This global construct extends
the notion of personal resources and captures both the positive attitude and the propensity
to be motivated to use that positive attitude, and such measurement has not, to our
knowledge, occurred in JD-R research.
Theoretical foundation and hypothesis development
Job demands: impairment
Job demands and lack of job resources lead to strain and health impairment, such as stress,
and mental and physical ill-being (Schaufeli and Taris, 2014). Job demands are aspects of
the job that require sustained physical and/or psychological (cognitive and emotional)
effort and are therefore associated with certain physiological and/or psychological costs
(Bakker et al., 2004, p. 86). They occur in the form of work pressure, role overload, and poor
environmental conditions, and operate through an impairment process to affect
psychological and physical health (Bakker et al., 2004). High and prolonged levels of job
demands impair health by drawing on resources beyond individual capabilities. High job
demands and low job resources reduce well-being due to the disparity between the
characteristics of a specific role and what is actually being achieved by the individual
currently performing the specific role(Chang and Hancock, 2003, p. 156; Chen et al., 2007;
Garrosa et al., 2008; Örtqvist and Wincent, 2006).
Job resources: motivational
Job resources operate through a motivational process by helping people to bolster core
self-concept and to fulfill their work roles and achieve goals (Bakker and Demerouti, 2016).
The corollary of this is that limited job resources such as reduced control create difficulty for
employees to fulfill their roles, resulting in greater role stress and lower levels of work
engagement (Barbier et al., 2013; Garrosa et al., 2011).
969
Psychological
capital

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