Positive Organizational Psychology: A Bibliometric Review and Science Mapping Analysis.

Beatriz Martín-Del-Río,Adrián García-Selva,Angel Solanes-Puchol,Marie-Carmen Neipp

doi:10.3390/ijerph18105222

Abstract

Positive organizational psychology (POP) is a research area that focuses on the positive aspects of optimal functioning at work. Although consolidated and with a large volume of publications, no bibliometric analysis has been performed that allows knowing its high-level structure, developments, and distribution of knowledge since its origins. The objective is to analyze the 7181 articles published in POP on the Web of Science Core Collection (WoSCC). A retrospective bibliometric analysis and science mapping were performed. The title, authors, institutions, countries, scientific categories, journals, keywords, year, and citations were extracted from WoSCC. Impact factor, quartile, and country were collected from Journal Citation Reports (JCR) 2019. Authors were classified according to the proposal of Crane, and Bradford’s law was calculated. The results show that it is an area with more than 100 years of experience, divided into three stages of different productivity and visibility, highlighting a decrease in its visibility in recent years. With a multidisciplinary and international interest, psychology and business and economics stand out, especially in countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, and the Netherlands. Four popular study topics emerged: well-being at work, positive leadership, work engagement, and psychological capital.

Highlights

Martin Seligman, in his speech as president of the American Association of Psychology in 1998, stated that positive psychology (PP) is the scientific study of optimal human functioning [1]
Linley, Joseph, Harrington, and Wood [2], in their work of 2006, analyzed different definitions given by referents of PP, integrating them into the following: “The scientific study of the possibilities of optimal human development, at the metapsychological level, aims to theoretically reorient and restructure the imbalance existing in psychological research and practices, granting greater importance to the study of the positive aspects of human life experiences, integrating them with those that cause suffering and pain; at a level of pragmatic analysis, it addresses the means, process, and mechanisms that make it possible to achieve a higher quality of life and personal realization” [2] (p. 8)
This interest, which arises from the current PP that began in the 2000s, quickly spread to professionals and academics in the field of management and organization, as well as in industrial and organizational psychology

Summary

Introduction

Martin Seligman, in his speech as president of the American Association of Psychology in 1998, stated that positive psychology (PP) is the scientific study of optimal human functioning [1]. “The scientific study of the possibilities of optimal human development, at the metapsychological level, aims to theoretically reorient and restructure the imbalance existing in psychological research and practices, granting greater importance to the study of the positive aspects of human life experiences, integrating them with those that cause suffering and pain; at a level of pragmatic analysis, it addresses the means, process, and mechanisms that make it possible to achieve a higher quality of life and personal realization” [2] PP goes from focusing on what is wrong with people to what is right, that is, it applies the scientific method to study the positive experiences, strengths, and psychological resources of people, groups, and institutions to achieve optimal development and functioning.

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