ABSTRACT

 This paper aimed to analyze and synthesize the empirical literature on positive psychological capital (PsyCap) published between January 2000 and January 2010, in order to identify: the correlates of PsyCap at the individual, group and organizational level; the variable status of PsyCap in relation to other variables, and the instruments used to measure PsyCap. The selected studies were analyzed using quantitative content analysis. The results are presented for each level of analysis: individual, group and organizational. It was found that most of the studies investigated PsyCap at the individual level (12 studies providing 16 independent samples; 88.89%), while only 11.11% (2 studies providing 2 independent samples) examined this concept at the group level. None of the selected studies investigated PsyCap at the organizational level. Although PsyCap was researched as a predictor for a wide range of work-related outcomes such as performance, behavioral, attitudinal, intentional, affective and health-related outcomes, the most studied outcome at the individual and group level of analysis was performance, mainly job performance. Furthermore, all the studies included subjective measures of PsyCap. Based on these findings several implications and future research were presented.

KEYWORDS: positive psychological capital, correlates, positive organizational behavior, synthesis

PAGES: 109-133