Positive Psychological Capital as a Predictor of Satisfaction With the Fly-In Fly-Out Model.

Nazaré Soares Marques,Sónia P Gonçalves,Miguel Pereira Lopes

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669524

Nazaré Soares Marques, Sónia P Gonçalves + Show 1 more

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https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.669524

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Abstract

The flexibility of markets and international agreements have lured a growing number of companies to expand their business beyond frontiers in search for new markets and a bigger business network. Specifically, expatriates became keystones to implant and promote the so desired expansion into international markets, Particularly, Fly-in fly-out (FIFO) flexpatriates. Although FIFO work practices are widely used, little is known about how to promote these professionals’ perceived job satisfaction (JS) across the course of their work cycles. That is why the goal of our research is to test the positive psychological capital (PsyCap) applicability to Portuguese FIFO flexpatriates. In the midst of the positive psychology theories, Luthans et al. (2007b) underline that workers are the psychological capital of any organization. Therefore, the development of the PsyCap becomes crucial and also contributes to the promotion of JS, nowadays a construct intertwined with well-being. As such, we developed and applied a HERO–(hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism)–micro-intervention in order to assess whether it moderated the relationship between a FIFO flexpatriates PsyCap and their JS. The research took place over three distinct moments, both PsyCap and JS were measured before and after the HERO micro-intervention, and again 3 months later. The data collected shows that a positive correlation exists between FIFO flexpatriates PsyCap and JS. Moreover, our results pointed out that the micro-intervention enhanced FIFO flexpatriates PsyCap, and also showed that this increase lasted over (at least) 3 months.

Highlights

Fly-in fly-out is a model of international work applied to organizational flexpatriates with permanent residence in the country of origin; it is defined by frequent temporary journeys abroad working for a company to perform management and/or formation jobs, to develop specific projects or to fill in the flexibility demands of the company (Torkington et al, 2011; Pini and Mayes, 2012; Brook et al, 2020).the type of functions performed by Fly-in flyout (FIFO) flexpatriates and the constant distance from their families and friends’ raises concerns about health and safety, disturbances in social and family life, quality of work, effects on productivity performance, and job dissatisfaction
The correlations between psychological capital (PsyCap) and job satisfaction (JS), at T0, suggest that the higher the PsyCap levels, the more satisfied the participants are with their job (r = 0.876, p < 0.001)
The results reveal the existence of a positive association between the PsyCap and JS

Summary

Introduction

Fly-in fly-out is a model of international work applied to organizational flexpatriates with permanent residence in the country of origin; it is defined by frequent temporary journeys abroad (no more than 6 months) working for a company to perform management and/or formation jobs, to develop specific projects or to fill in the flexibility demands of the company (Torkington et al, 2011; Pini and Mayes, 2012; Brook et al, 2020).the type of functions performed by FIFO flexpatriates and the constant distance from their families and friends’ raises concerns about health and safety, disturbances in social and family life, quality of work, effects on productivity performance, and job dissatisfaction. Fly-in fly-out is a model of international work applied to organizational flexpatriates with permanent residence in the country of origin; it is defined by frequent temporary journeys abroad (no more than 6 months) working for a company to perform management and/or formation jobs, to develop specific projects or to fill in the flexibility demands of the company (Torkington et al, 2011; Pini and Mayes, 2012; Brook et al, 2020). FIFO PsyCap and Job Satisfaction workers have higher levels of stress, anxiety, and depression than the general population (Albrecht and Anglim, 2018; Center for Transformative Work Design (CTWD), 2018).

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