Why Psychological Capital Can Be The Best Investment
From the Psychology of Work and Organizations, in recent years, it has emerged an increase in the study of positive organizational behavior (Positive Organizational Behavior, POB), which is interested in the application of people’s positive psychological strengths and capabilities to improve work performance.
And it is in this context where it emerges the concept of Psychological Capital defined as a state of positive psychological development of the individual, which goes beyond human and social capital.
This state of positive psychological development is an important predictor of well-being that can also be cultivated and enhanced, resulting in being highly adaptive by favoring the commitment, performance and job satisfaction of workers, as well as their mental health.
Psychological Capital is made up of four basic psychological resources state type; They are not personality traits, that is, they are susceptible to development and change, so they can play a crucial role in the development of individuals, teams and organizations.
Research has identified such basic psychological resources as: self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience.
Self-efficacy
In his Social Cognitive Theory, Bandura (1997) defines self-efficacy as the belief in our own abilities to organize and execute the courses of action necessary to obtain certain achievements And the main sources of self-efficacy are: success experiences, vicarious experience, verbal persuasion, and emotional states.
Self-efficacy constitutes one of the most important determinants of motivation and human behavior. It refers to the person’s belief regarding his or her competence to successfully perform a task, achieve a goal, or overcome an obstacle.
Thus, the more confident we are in our own competence, the more likely we are to try strive and persist in overcoming possible difficulties
Optimism
We broadly understand optimism as have a generalized expectation that the future will bring us successful results as opposed to pessimism, where that expectation would have adverse results.
Its characteristics of positive expectations, flexibility and adaptability are significant predictors of mental health, acting as a protective factor against stress and depression, and promoting high personal growth.
At the organizational level, studies suggest that optimistic employees not only feel better, but also get better results since their optimism is related to their performance, satisfaction and happiness (Youssef and Luthans, 2007).
Hope
hope is a positive state of motivation based on our perceived ability to find different paths toward our desired goals as well as the strength to motivate us towards them (Snyder, 2002).
People who tend to view their daily lives with hope tend to have expectations of success and are more inclined to seek personal growth.
In a longitudinal study, Wandeler and Bundick (2011) concluded that hope should be promoted in work and organizational environments among other positive capabilities, to ensure that workers can increase their perceived professional competence.
Resilience
Resilience is the ability to combat or face adversity, conflict or failure, and emerge recovered and strengthened, thus promoting our progress and the improvement of our skills.
Resilient people are commonly characterized by: accepting reality unconditionally, having a deep belief that life is meaningful, and an uncanny ability to improvise and adapt to change (Coutu, 2002).
That is, resilience makes us stronger and more successful in the face of adversity revealing itself as an opportunity for our potential development.
Our best investment
To achieve optimal positive psychological functioning, therefore, it is important have the confidence to take on and put in the effort necessary to achieve success in challenging tasks (self-efficacy), make a positive attribution about our success in the future (optimism), persevere towards our goals and know how to redirect the paths to achieve them (hope) and, in the face of possible problems, recover and go further (resilience).
Although it is true that both the concept of Psychological Capital and its research emerge in the organizational and work environment, it is not lost on anyone that it can be applied to all areas of our life, since it is about our psychological development.
Thus, increasing our Psychological Capital could be the best investment of our life.
