Abstract
We investigated the relationships between leaders' and their followers' psychological capital and organizational identification in a Chinese community. Participants included 423 followers on 34 work teams, each with its respective team leader. Hierarchical linear models (HLM) were used in the analyses to delineate the relationships among participants' demographic background (gender, age, marital status, and educational level), human capital, and tenure. The results revealed that leaders' psychological capital positively influenced their followers' psychological capital through the mediation effect of enhancing followers' organizational identification. The implications of these findings, the study's limitations, and directions for future research are discussed.
Highlights
In recent years, research on positive organizational behavior (POB) has received increasing attention in the field of psychology and organizational science
Several studies have used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) in an attempt to investigate the interpersonal interaction of psychological capital from a multilevel perspective (Walumbwa et al, 2010b; Ren et al, 2013)
The measured structure of psychological capital of studies in the Chinese cultural context is consistent with the original scale reported in the Western countries (Shen et al, 2014). These findings indicate that psychological capital could be regarded as a higher-order factor of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, resilience and other positive psychological states
Summary
Research on positive organizational behavior (POB) has received increasing attention in the field of psychology and organizational science. Several studies have used hierarchical linear modeling (HLM) in an attempt to investigate the interpersonal interaction of psychological capital from a multilevel perspective (Walumbwa et al, 2010b; Ren et al, 2013) These studies have shown that leaders’ psychological capital influences their followers’ psychological capital, which subsequently exerts a positive effect on their work behavior and job performance. On one hand, these studies extend the former single-level analysis to a multilevel approach in the organizational context. Congruent with Western findings, Zhong (2007) noted that psychological capital among Chinese team leaders exerts a positive influence on followers’ job performance, organizational commitment and organizational citizenship behavior These effects are generally larger than those of hope, optimism and resilience.
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