Human, Social, and Now Positive Psychological Capital Management:: Investing in People for Competitive Advantage

Abstract

Despite the substantial support for the importance of the human factor in achieving sustainable performance, human resources continue to primarily be given lip service, partly owing to the commonly perceived difficulties of quantifying their impact on bottom-line performance and competitive advantage. This article uses well-established business criteria to compare the contribution of human resources to sustainable competitive advantage to that of traditionally recognized resources such as financial, structural, and technological capital. The article presents support for three dimensions of human resources that warrant its inimitablity and sustainability for competitive advantage. Two of these dimensions are human capital (explicit and tacit knowledge) and social capital (networks, norms/ values, and trust). Then, a new dimension of human resources, positive psychological capital, which involves measurable, developable psychological capacities that can be readily enhanced and managed for performance improvement, is introduced. These capacities include self-efficacy/ confidence, hope, optimism, and resiliency.