Psychological Capital Development in Organizations: An Integrative Review of Evidence-Based Intervention Programs

Abstract

Psychological Capital (PsyCap) is a recognized and well-investigated set of psychological resources comprised of self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience, and it has been empirically shown to be a good predictor of many important positive attitudes and behaviours, such as psychological well-being, job performance, and goal achievement. PsyCap is an emerging, relevant, and applied topic related to scholarly and professional organizational management activity around the world in the workplace because it can be developed through interventions among employees and leaders. However, there is a lack of comprehensive reviews and updates of the research on PsyCap interventions in workplaces, which might be very useful for both researchers and practitioners developing, implementing or validating Positive Organizational Interventions. This chapter reviews and synthesizes the PsyCap intervention literature on both specific micro-interventions and broader and more extensive PsyCap development programs. Moreover, cultural differences have been found to be important in Positive Psychology Interventions (PPI), and so we particularly examine and summarize cultural differences in the PsyCap development literature. To provide a comprehensive and integrative perspective on this emerging issue, we base our analysis on a recent integrative review in which we systematically searched different types of publications, both research and professional literature, including journal articles, doctoral dissertations, books, chapters, and conference papers. Our conclusions shed light on PsyCap intervention research and practice, and they may help Human Resource Development (HRD) professionals to make evidence-based decisions when implementing PsyCap development programs.