Psychological Capital and Performance: Roles of Thought Self- Leadership, Engagement, and Feedback

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to examine the effect of sales employee’s psychological capital (PsyCap) on performance through the interplay of work engagement and performance feedback. It also advances the agenda of examining thought self-leadership (TSL) as an antecedent of PsyCap. A hypothesized model was tested using survey data collected from salespeople from different industries in India. A structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses. The results demonstrate that TSL drives PsyCap in salespeople. The results also suggest an interesting interplay between a salesperson’s PsyCap and his/her sales performance through work engagement as a mediator for PsyCap and sales performance. The results for the moderating effect of positive and negative feedback on the effect of PsyCap on work engagement were not significant. The research suggests that a salesperson’s PsyCap relates positively to sales performance through work engagement. It also suggests that TSL strategies strengthen the salesperson’s PsyCap. The results suggest that organizations should invest in training to enhance TSL which will lead to enhanced performance through effective personal resources such as PsyCap. The results of the study enrich the extant information on PsyCap and sales performance linkages by suggesting mediation mechanisms and proposing an integrated framework with work engagement