MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY -------------------------------------------- NGO THANH TRUNG
PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL, JOB ATTITUDES AND JOB PERFORMANCE OF EMPLOYEE Major: Business Administration Major code: 62 34 01 02
SUMMARY OF BUSINESS ADMINISTRATION DOCTORAL DISSERTATION
Ho Chi Minh City, 2020
The study is completed at:
HO CHI MINH CITY OPEN UNIVERSITY
Scientific Instructor:
Assoc. Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Ha
Reviewer 1: ....................................................................................
Reviewer 2: ....................................................................................
Reviewer 3: ....................................................................................
The dissertation will be reviewed in front of the Dissertation
Evaluation Council at Ho Chi Minh City Open University.
In ....................................................................................................
The dissertation can be found at ....................................................
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TABLE OF CONTENT
CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION............................................................................. 1
1.1. Research matters ................................................................................................ 1
1.2. Research questions ............................................................................................. 5
1.3. Research objective ............................................................................................. 6
1.4. Research object and research scope ................................................................... 6
1.5. Research Methodology ...................................................................................... 7
1.6. The contribution of research .............................................................................. 7
1.7. The structure of dissertation ............................................................................... 8
CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW ................................................................ 9
2.1. Concepts............................................................................................................. 9
2.1.1. Psychological capital .................................................................................. 9
2.1.2. Employee’s job performance ...................................................................... 9
2.1.3. Employee’s job attitudes........................................................................... 10
2.2. Theoretical framework ..................................................................................... 12
2.2.1. The theory of psychological capital .......................................................... 12
2.2.2. Theory of job performance ....................................................................... 12
2.2.3. Theory of job attitudes .............................................................................. 13
2.3. The relationships between psychological capital, job attitudes and job
performance. ........................................................................................................... 13
2.3.1. The relationship between psychological capital and job performance ..... 13
2.3.2. The relationships between psychological capital, job satisfaction and job
performance................................................................................................... 14
2.3.3. The relationships between psychological capital, organizational
commitment and job performance ................................................................. 15
2.3.4. The relationships between psychological capital, job stress and job
performance................................................................................................... 16
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2.3.5. The relationships between psychological capital, turnover intention, and
job performance. ........................................................................................... 18
2.4. Overview of the previous research ................................................................... 19
2.4.1 Previous research on the relationships between psychological capital and
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, turnover intention. 19
2.4.2. Previous research on the relationships between job attitudes and job
performance................................................................................................... 19
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH DESIGN .................................................................... 21
3.1. Research Process .............................................................................................. 21
3.2. Research methodology ..................................................................................... 21
3.2.1. Qualitative research method ..................................................................... 21
3.2.2. Quantitative research method ................................................................... 22
3.3. The research model and proposed hypotheses ................................................. 22
3.3.1 The research model .................................................................................... 22
3.3.2. The proposed hypotheses .......................................................................... 24
3.4. Development scales ......................................................................................... 24
3.4.1. Psychological capital scale ....................................................................... 24
3.4.2. Job performance scale............................................................................... 24
3.4.3. Job satisfaction scale ................................................................................ 25
3.4.4. Organizational commitment scale ............................................................ 25
3.4.5. Job stress scale .......................................................................................... 25
3.4.6. Turnover intention scale ........................................................................... 25
3.4.7. Other scales .............................................................................................. 26
3.4.8. Pre-test activity ......................................................................................... 26
3.5. Research data ................................................................................................... 26
CHAPTER 4 – RESEARCH RESULTS ................................................................. 28
4.1. The descriptive statistic results ........................................................................ 28
4.1.1. The results of qualitative variables ........................................................... 28
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4.1.2. The results of quantitative variables ......................................................... 29
4.2. Reliability analysis of scales ............................................................................ 29
4.3. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA) ................................................................... 30
4.4. Confirmatory factor analysis of high-order contructs ...................................... 30
4.5. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job attitudes and job
performance ............................................................................................................ 30
4.5.1. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job satisfaction
and job performance ...................................................................................... 30
4.5.2. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, organizational
commitment and job performance ................................................................. 32
4.5.3. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job stress and job
performance................................................................................................... 33
4.5.4. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, turnover intention
and job performance ...................................................................................... 35
4.5.5. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job attitudes and
job performance ............................................................................................ 36
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS ........... 39
5.1. Conclusion ....................................................................................................... 39
5.2. New contributions of the study ........................................................................ 40
5.3. Managerial implications ................................................................................... 41
5.4. Limitations and agenda for future research ...................................................... 43
5.4.1. Limitations ................................................................................................ 43
5.4.2. Agenda for future research ....................................................................... 43
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CHAPTER 1 – INTRODUCTION
1.1. Research matters
In recent years, Vietnam has carried out the renovation policies and strongly
participated in the international economic integration, that openmany development
opportunities for Vietnamese enterprises. Yet, a plenty of arising challenges that they
are facing drive them to change in many aspects.
Labor productivity is a popular indicator used to measure the number of
final goods/ services or the amount of added value per employee. Nguyễn and
Nguyễn (2015); Nguyễn and Kenichi (2018); and General Statistics Office of
Vietnam (2019) confirmed that there is a large gap in labor productivity between
Vietnam and other countries in ASEAN and Asia. Labor productivity, in both
personal aspects and social aspects, is considered as a factor that indicates
employee’s capacity, an organization’s or an economy’s nature and progressive level.
It is an important factor affecting the competitive capacity of an organization
(Nguyễn and Nguyễn, 2015). Thus, Vietnamese enterprises’ competitive capacity is
in low-level (Dan, 2017). In the context of international economic integration today,
Vietnamese enterprises must cope with the fierce competition pressure from foreign
enterprises by actively innovating mindsets, improving productivity and optimizing
available resources (Dan, 2017). They have to change themselves in many aspects
such as business process, organizational structure and personal efficiency (Nguyen
and Nguyen, 2015). In order to adapt to the rapid and realistic change of the world,
enterprises must aim to change not only in terms of productivity but also the
requirements for implementation and generally recognized as job performance (Ilgen
and Pulakos, 1999). An employee with high job performance can help their
organization achieve its goals and gain a competitive advantage (Sonnentag, 2003).
According to Campbell (1990), employee’s job performance is considered
as one of the most important factors affecting the success or failure as well as the
output of an enterprise. Therefore, research on employee’s job performance to find
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outsolutions for the better job performanceis highly prioritized in Vietnam. Although
there are many different definitions on job performance, most of researchers agree
with the fact that it can be the behavior of employees in the context in relation to the
goals of their organization. Employee’s job performance is a set of behaviors related
to the goals of organizations wherehe unders (Murphy và Kroeker, 1988); it is also
observable behaviors that the employer performs in his or her work involving inthe
objectives/goals of the organization (Campbell, 1990); it is also appraisable
behaviors and results related to the organization’s goal (Viswesvaran, 1993).
In recent years, positive psychology has been introduced as a new trend in
psychology. Positive psychology aims to divert psychological research into two
neglected tasks, i.e.making people healthier, happier, more productive and
actualization of their potentials (Luthans et al, 2015). Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi
(2000) suggest that positive psychology emphasizes on how to build human strengths
such as characteristics, good qualities, and talents in order to make their lives more
valuable, and more efficient. In addition, researchers studying on behavior and
organizational theory have realized the untapped potentialiality of a positive, science-
based approach and the results generated are two parallel and complementary main
trends comprisingpositive organizational wisdomand positive organizational
behavior (Luthans et al, 2015). Based on ideas stemming from the above three
positive trends, psychophysical capital developed by Luthans and associates has
brought the understanding of the individual’s psychological capacity (Newman et al.,
2014) and it can be measured, developed and exploited for the purpose of improving
his job performance (Luthans và Youssef, 2004).
Investment and development of psychological capital brings many benefits
such as increasing job performance and establishing competitive advantage (Luthans
et al., 2005). Many previous studies on the relationship between overall
psychological capital and employee’s job performance (Nolzen (2018); Newman et
al. (2014); Rus and Băban (2013); Avey et al. (2011), etc.) recommend that
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psychological capital has a positive impact on employee’s job performance. Research
about self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience (Snyder et al. (1991); Bandura
(1997); Seligman (1998); Peterson (2000), ...) also agreed that they have positive
effects on employee’s job performance. The theory of psychological capital of
Luthans et al. (2007b) also expresses a consensus view of the positive impact of both
overall psychological capital and the basiccomponents of psychological capital on
job performance.
In the theory of psychology, attitude leads behavior is a prominent topic.
Researchers on clinical psychology and organizational psychology suggest that
attitudes and behaviors are closely related. In the working context, attitude aims to an
employee’s attitude towards his job. Job attitudes are the evaluation of an individual
about his job, by which his feelings, beliefs, and commitment to that job are exposed
(Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). Job attitude has some complex structures,
which have the combination meaning of more specific and low-level attitudes
(Harrison et al., 2006) such as job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job
stress, turnover intention, etc.
There are many studies on the impacts of employee’s job satisfaction or
organizational commitment on job performance. However, the obtained results are
not consistent. The majority of researchers agree that there is theoretical and intuitive
existence on the positive effect of job satisfaction on job performance. However, the
obtained experimental research results show a very low or no statistically significant
correlation. Therefore, there is still controversy and inconsistency in many studies on
the relationship between job satisfaction and job performance (Saari and Judge,
2004). The obtained research results on the impact of organizational commitment on
employee’s job performance are also inconsistent (Wright and Bonett, 2002). Many
previous theoretical studies such as research of Beehr and Newman (1978), Parker
and DeCotiis (1983), agreed that there are the effects of job stress and turnover
intention on the employee’s job performance . But the number of empirical research
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on the impact of job stress or turnover intention on the employee’s job performance
is still small.
On the contrary, the studies on the impact of psychological capital on
employee’s job attitudes have gotten more clear results. Psychological capital has a
positive influence on job satisfaction of employees (Larson and Luthans (2006);
Luthans et al. (2007a); Luthans et al. (2008a); Abbas et al. (2014); Badran and
Youssef-Morgan (2015)), and organizational commitment (Luthans and Jensen
(2005); Larson and Luthans (2006); Newman et al. (2014); Aminikhah et al. (2016)).
The psychological capital, job stress, and turnover intention are in mutual relation
and the focus on the employee’s psychological capacity is considered as a suggestion
to cope with job stress and reduce turnover intention (Yim et al., 2017).
Psychological capital is considered as a positive capital to combat the stress and
employee’s resignation (Avey et al., 2009). Studies on the hope byFarran et al.
(1995); Peterson and Luthans (2003); Larson and Luthans (2006); Bandura (1997);
on the confidence by Badran and Youssef-Morgan (2015); Kwok et al. (2015);
Bandura (2008); Siu et al. (2015); Harris and Cameron (2005); on the optimism by
Seligman (1998); Al-Mashaan (2003); Badran and Youssef-Morgan (2015); on the
resiliency by Youssef and Luthans (2007); Larson and Luthans (2006); Matos et al.
(2010); Siu et al. (2005); helps to make the point that the components of
psychological capital have similar effects on the employee’s job attitudes including
organizational commitment, job stress, turnover intention as well as job satisfaction.
From the mentioned practical matters in combination with the studied
theoretical contents and overview of related previous, this research is conducted to
explore the relationships between the psychological capital, job attitudes, job
performance of employees in Vietnam. In this study, employee’s psychological
capital is considered as a high-ordered overall construct comprised of four separate
components. Besides, four selected specific job attitudes of employees are job
satisfaction and organizational commitment (within the group of desirable attitudes),
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job stress, and turnover intention (within the group of undesirable attitudes). There
are two main reasons for this selection. First, each employee always have both
desirable attitudes and undesirable attitudes at the same time; so simultaneous
research on two groups is comprehensive and realistic. Secondly, this study wants to
explore more about the effects of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job
stress, turnover intention on job performance, which currently has no consistent
results. Specially, these relationships are explored in a wide range including
psychological capital.
Specifically, this research explores four main contents as follows:
(i) The relationship between psychological capital and employee’s job
performance.
(ii) The relationships between psychological capital and job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, job stress, and turnover intention.
(iii) The relationships between job satisfaction, organizational commitment,
job stress, turnover intention, and employee’s job performance.
(iv) The relationships between psychological capital and employee’s job
performance through mediator variables such as job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, job stress, and turnover intention.
1.2. Research questions
The study focuses on investigating the relationships between employee’s
psychological capital and employee’s job performance through mediator variables
such as: job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress and turnover
intention of employee. Specific research questions are proposed as follows:
(i) How is the effect of psychological capital on employee’s job performance?
(ii) How is the effect of psychological capital on specific job attitudes such as
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, and turnover
intention?
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(iii) How is the effect of specific job attitudes such as job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, job stress, and turnover intention on
employee’s job performance?
(iv) How is the effect of psychological capital on employee’s job performance
through mediator variables such as job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, job stress, and turnover intention?
1.3. Research objective
According to the above research matters and research questions proposed,
research objectives are listed as follows:
(i) Assess the impact of psychological capital on employee’s job
performance.
(ii) Assess the impact of psychological capital on job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, job stress, and turnover intention.
(iii) Assess the impact of job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job
stress, and turnover intention on employee’s job performance.
(iv) Assess the impact of psychological capital on employee’s job performance
through mediator variable such as job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, job stress, and turnover intention.
(v) Based on the obtained results, the managerial implications are
recommended to improve employee’s job performance by adjusting the
factors that have a statistically significant impact on employee’s job
performance.
1.4. Research object and research scope
The study focuses on psychological capital, job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, job stress, turnover intention, and employess’s job performance.
Respondent are employees from several companies across industries in
Vietnam. The survey is conducted in November, 2018.
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1.5. Research Methodology
The study uses the combination of qualitative research method and
quantitative research method. Qualitative research method (based on the experts’
opinions) is used for forming official questionnaire while relationship between
concepts is estimated by quantitative research method, which is inclusive of the
methods of descriptive statistics, Cronbach’s Alpha, EFA, CFA and CB-SEM.
1.6. The contribution of research
Firstly, the study provides the theoretical addition on the impact of
employee’s psychological capital on their job performance through some new
mediator variables such as employee’s job stress, employee’s turnover intention,
employee’s job satisfaction, employee’s organizational commitment. When
analyzing the mediating effect of each attitude, all four specific job attitudes show a
mediating role in the relationship between psychological capital and employee’s job
performance. However, when the mediating effects of all four job attitudes to be
analyzed at the same time, only employee’s turnover intention demonstrates this role.
These are new contributions of this research compared to the previous studies.
Secondly, there are some new empirical contributions in the study when
Vietnam is selected as the research context. Most of the previous studies in relation
to the topic of psychological capital and employee’s job performance were conducted
in the US, China, and many other countries. So far, there are very few researches on
this topic that has been done in Vietnam. It is suggested from the study that the
research in the Vietnam reality context will provide a better understanding of the
matters related to psychological capital, job performance, and employee’s job
attitudes in Vietnam. Therefore, appropriate solutions will become up to increase the
capacity of psychological capital, change the attitude towards the work as well as
increase the job performance of employees in Vietnam.
In addition, this study’s results show the confirmation regarding the
structural relationship between psychological capital and employee’s job
performance in Vietnam, of which there is an existence of mediator variables that are
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employee’s specific job attitudes (job stress, turnover intention, job satisfaction,
organizational commitment).
1.7. The structure of dissertation
Chapter 1: Introduction
Chapter 2: Literature review.
Chapter 3: Research design
Chapter 4: Research results
Chapter 5: Conclusion and managerial implications
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CHAPTER 2 – LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1. Concepts
2.1.1. Psychological capital
2.1.1.1 Types of capital
2.1.1.2. Psychological capital
Psychological capital is a second-order construct, the human nature and a
positive psychological state in the development of individuals (Avey, Luthans, &
Jensen, 2009). Psychological capital comprises of four different components: self-
efficacy, optimism, hope and resiliency. These positive resources are demonstrated to
be state-like by Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio (2015). Hence, they are easy to be
developed and improved through training programs, on-the-job activities, and highly
focused and short “micro-interventions” (Luthans, Avey, Avolio, & Peterson, 2010).
According to Luthans, Youssef, and Avolio (2015), psychological capital
(PsyCap) is the state of positive psychological development of an individual,
described by:
(i) having confidence (self-efficacy) to accept challenging tasks and get
success with the necessary effort;
(ii) making a positive conclusion (optimism) about current and future
success;
(iii) consistently pursuing goals and, when necessary, diverting paths to the
goal (hope) to succeed;
(iv) facing with problems and adversity, they endure, resist, and even
overcome (resiliency) to achieve success.
2.1.1.3. Components of psychological capital
2.1.2. Employee’s job performance
Employee’s job performance is defined in relation to working goals of the
organization where employee belongs to and it exists in the form of human behavior.
Job performance is conceptualized as observable behaviors by which employees
perform their jobs in terms of organization's goals (Campbell, McHenry, & Wise,
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1990), or is employee’s behaviors involve in actual work which can be observed at
that time (Campbell, McCloy, Oppler, & Sager, 1993), or is a set of all work-related
behaviors of employees expected by their organization (Moorhead & Griffin, 2008).
Job performance of organization’s members plays an important role to increase
organization’s competitive capability (Yang & Kim, 2018).
2.1.3. Employee’s job attitudes
2.1.3.1. Job attitudes
Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller (2012) define job attitude as the evaluation of
an individual's work that expresses his or her feelings, beliefs, and commitment to
work. In their definition, Judge and Kammeyer-Mueller (2012) consider the term
"job" with a broader content including (i) the current title; (ii) job/ occupation; (iii)
the employer; and it also is noted that an employee's attitude on his job does not need
to be consistent with that towards his superiors
2.1.3.2. Job satisfaction
Job satisfaction is the specific attitude of employees towards the job they are
undertaking. Job satisfaction relates to the difference between an employee's needs
and the actual deliverables or between the expectation and the actual perceived value.
Locke (1969) and all contemporary researchers agreed that job satisfaction is a
function related to the perceived relationship between what people want from their
job and what they perceive when it happens. Approaching from both objective and
subjective aspects, job satisfaction is an internal state of the employee expressed by a
rational and/ or emotional assessment of a work experience with some supportive or
unsupportive levels (Brief, 1998). Employees’ job satisfaction brings several
desirable/ positive behaviors such as performance, commitment,… as well as restricts
undesirable/ negative behaviors of employees such as absenteeism, turnover,…
(Mushtaq, Amjad, Bilal, & Saeed, 2014)
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2.1.3.3. Employee’s organizational commitment
The commitment to an organization is defined as employee’s loyalty to that
organization, willingness to strive on behalf of the organization and desire to be the
organization’s member longer (Bateman & Strasser, 1984). Organizational
commitment is a psychological state that links an individual to the organization based
on a strong adherence to the organization's goals and values (Allen & Meyer, 1990).
It is also an individual’s psychological engagement to that organization, by which the
attachment to organization, acceptance and transformation of the organization's
values and goals into employee’s and behavioral effort to support organization are
recognized (Judge & Kammeyer-Mueller, 2012). Organizational commitment is a
psychological relation between employee and his organization that helps to constraint
the employee’s ability to quit current job (Nguyen & Tu, 2020).
Organizational commitment comprises of three different components
(Meyer & Allen, 1991), including affective commitment, continuance commitment,
and normative commitment. Emotional engagement to the organization, awareness
on related cost if leaving and obligation to keep working are clearly explained
respectively.
2.1.3.4. Employee’s job stress
Beehr and Newman (1978) define job stress referring to situations in which
job-related factors interact with employees to change their psychological and/or
physiological status.
Job stress is the feeling of a person being asked to do something different
from the normal or desirable activities in the workplace, caused by opportunities,
difficulties, or requirements related to important work results (Parker & DeCotiis,
1983).
2.1.3.5. Employee’s turnover intention
Turnover intention is the best prediction of job transfer (Mobley et al.,
1979). An employee's resignation intention is an employee's decision or behavioral
intention to leave his / her current job in the the coming year (Epstein, 2005).
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Turnover intention is an intention of which an employee develops an attitude of
leaving his or her organization (Sahoo et al, 2015). Turnover intention refers to the
attitude of employees leaving an organization (Lu et al., 2016). Turnover intention is
the basic stage prior tothe actual resignation (Rehman and Mubashar, 2017).
2.2. Theoretical framework
2.2.1. The theory of psychological capital
In this study, the theory of psychological capital proposed by Luthans and
colleagues is considered as the fundamental theory of psychological capital.
Accordingly, the study considers psychological capital as a high-level construct that
consists of four components: self-efficacy, optimism, hope, resiliency. Because of
state-like, the psychological capital of an individual is easily molded, adjusted and
ready to change, and develop.
2.2.2. Theory of job performance
2.2.2.1. Theory of job performance of Campbell (1990)
Campbell (1994) states that there are 8 components at the most common
level under the model of job performance, comprising (i) job-specific task
proficiency ; (ii) non-job-specific task proficiency ; (iii) written and oral
communication; (iv) demonstrating effort ; (v) maintaining personnel discipline ; (vi)
facilitating peer and team performance; (vii) supervision/ leadership; (viii)
management/ administration.
Campbell et al. (1996) also emphasize that three components: job-specific
task proficiency, demonstrating effort and maintaining personnel discipline are the
basic factors which are applicable to all professions.
2.2.2.2. Theory of contextual performance of Borman and Motowidlo (1993).
The model of contextual performance includes 5 aspects that represent
contextual performance: (i) resilience, enthusiasm, and extra effort when necessary to
complete the mission; (ii) volunteering to perform informal jobs that are assigned;
(iii) help and cooperate with peers; (iv) follow the organization's rules and
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procedures; (v) approve, support, and protect the goals of the organization.
The theory of Borman and Motowidlo has many similarities with
Campbell’s, but only focuses on job performance related to the implementation
context. And it also does not have any addition to or clarification of this aspect in
comparison to that of Campell’s. Therefore, the theory of job performance of
Campbell (1990) is selected and used as the fundamental theory of employee’s job
performance.
2.2.3. Theory of job attitudes
2.2.3.1. Need – satisfaction theoretical model of job attitudes
According to Salancik and Pfeffer (1978), job attitude is considered as the
result of a relationship between individual needs and the job nature or the job
situation. Accordingly, when the characteristics of the job are compatible with an
individual's needs, he or she is satisfied with the job and may also be more motivated
to work.
2.2.3.2. Affective Events Theory
Weiss and Cropanzano (1996) proposed a theory of job attitude called
Affective Events Theory (AET). The main content of this theory focuses on the
structure, causes and results of emotional experiences in the workplace with the view
saying that emotional experiences also have an important impact on an individual's
job satisfaction.
2.3. The relationships between psychological capital, job attitudes and job
performance.
2.3.1. The relationship between psychological capital and job performance
Self-efficacy (Bandura, 1997), hope (Peterson & Byron, 2008), optimistic
(Corr & Gray, 1996), resiliency (Youssef & Luthans, 2007) have a positive effect on
employee’s job performance. The theory of psychological capital and previous
empirical studies has suggested that psychological capital (as a higher-order
construct) has a positive impact on an employee’s job performance. Psychological
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capital is used to improve job performance (Luthans & Youssef, 2004). According to
Luthans, Avolio, Avey, and Norman (2007); Luthans, Norman, Avolio, and Avey
(2008), with a higher level of psychological capital, employee has more resources to
achieve his job goals and create more efficiency at work. The results of the positive
relationship between employee’s psychological capital and his job satisfaction are
obtained in many previous empirical studies of Aminikhah et al. (2016); Pouramini
and Fayyazi (2015); Bergheim, Nielsen, Mearns, and Eid (2015); Kwok, Cheng, and
Wong (2015).
Hypotheis H1: Psychological capital has a positive influence on job
performance.
2.3.2. The relationships between psychological capital, job satisfaction and job
performance
2.3.2.1. The relationship between psychological capital and job satisfaction
Self-efficacy has a positive impact on job satisfaction (Badran & Youssef-
Morgan, 2015; Kwok et al., 2015). Hope helps employees try to achieve their goals
even when they encounter various troublesome obstacles and they have a tendency to
satisfy what they have achieved (Froman, 2010). The optimism helps people have a
positive thinking towards life and job satisfaction because optimists tend to believe in
positive future results. Youssef and Luthans (2007) also believe that optimism and
resilience also have a positive effect on employee’s job satisfaction.
Hypothesis H2: Psychological capital has a positive influence on job
satisfaction.
2.3.2.2. The relationship between job satisfaction and job performance
Some researchers say that there was theoretically-based exist to the positive
relationship between job satisfaction and employee’s job performance. Intuitively,
these two concepts are mutually related (Iaffaldano & Muchinsky, 1985). However,
there is still controversy and inconsistency in many empirical studies (Saari & Judge,
15
2004). The study proposes the following research hypothesis:
Hypothesis H3: Job satisfaction has a positive influence on job performance.
2.3.3. The relationships between psychological capital, organizational
commitment and job performance
2.3.3.1. The relationship between psychological capital and organizational
commitment
With self-efficacy, employee believes that difficulties and obstacles will
help them to be well-trained and mature (Luthans et al., 2015). When employee is
assigned works suitable to his job needs or he himself is supported to set work goals
easily, he will be satisfied and has more willingness to work at his organization for
long term period. In other words, this employee will have feeling to be attached with
the organization. Hope pushes employee to have a future vision, job itself and job’s
success. Hopeful employee feels positive about his job (Farran, Herth, & Popovich,
1995) and wants to keep working at organization. Results of empirical studies of
Larson and Luthans (2006); Youssef and Luthans (2007) show that there is a
relationship between hope and employee’s organizational commitment. Kluemper,
Little, and DeGroot (2009) say that optimists tend to believe in positive results in
future. This optimistic interpretation style helps them to objectively perceive
temporary events caused by external factors (Youssef & Luthans, 2007). It also helps
optimists to have positive feelings to both their life and their job that they are
assigned. Apart from optimism, resiliency to challenges in the workplace also makes
the employee feel positively while evaluating his job. He will feel satisfied his job’s
needs and gain a working commitment attitude at the organization in long term
period. Results of empirical studies of Luthans and Jensen (2005); Larson and
Luthans (2006); Newman et al. (2014); Aminikhah et al. (2016) show that there is a
positive effect of psychological capital on employee’s organizational commitment.
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influence on Hypothesis H4: Psychological capital has positive
organizational commitment.
2.3.3.2. The relationship between organizational commitment and job
performance
Employees who commit to the organization focus more on getting the
organization's goals than specific tasks (Hulin, 1991). They try to accomplish and
achieve high performance in tasks assigned with the belief that what they do will
contribute to the accomplishment of organization’s goals and values. Previous studies
using meta-analysis method of Wright and Bonett (2002); Jaramillo, Mulki, and
Marshall (2005); Riketta (2002) and empirical studies of Meyer, Paunonen, Gellatly,
Goffin, and Jackson (1989); Shore and Martin (1989) also show that organizational
commitment has a positive impact on job performance. This study proposes
hypothesis as follows:
Hypothesis H5: Organizational commitment has positive influence on job
performance.
2.3.4. The relationships between psychological capital, job stress and job
performance
2.3.4.1. The relationship between psychological capital and job stress
Self-efficacy affects how people perceive and interpret facts. People with a
low level of confidence in themselves believe that they lack the resources to handle
difficulties and easily fall into stressful situations; on the contrary, people with a high
level of confidence will be less stressed. This was also supported by Bandura (2008).
Self-efficacy is related to job stress (Siu, Spector, Cooper, & Lu, 2005). In addition,
people with high hope are motivated by a sense of competence to develop methods to
achieve what they want, which helps them find alternative ways of achieving goals in
case the initial ones have come to a standstill (Luthans & Youssef, 2004). Therefore,
difficulties and adversities arising in the work duration or the pressure from the
overload are expected to overcome by people who have high hope. As a result,
people with high hope are less worried about stressful situations and better adapt to
17
changes in the working environment (Kwok, Cheng, & Wong, 2015). What is more,
optimism allows individuals to have favorable conditions and avoid unhappiness in
life, promote their self-esteem and spirit, shield them from sorrow, sin, torment, and
despair (Luthans & Youssef, 2004). Highly optimistic people have a positive point of
view about the job and think that the difficulties and pressures in the workplace are
temporary, and will be ended soon. Meanwhile, resilience can be a key factor in
determining how people respond to a stressful environment (Avey, Luthans, &
Jensen, 2009). Individuals with a high level of resilience are better equipped to cope
with stress in a constantly changing work environment because they are willing to
accept new experiences, flexibly adapt to changing work needs, and express
emotions more stable against difficulties (Tugade, Fredrickson, & Feldman Barrett,
2004).
As a high-level concept composed of four components: self-efficacy, hope,
optimism, and resiliency, the psychological capital of employees also affects their job
stress. Psychological capital is considered as a positive capital to combat the work
stress of employees (Avey et al., 2009).
Hypothesis H6: Psychological capital has a positive influence on job stress.
2.3.4.2. The relationship between job stress and job performance
With the concept that job stress is conceptualized as the mismatch of
relationships between employee’s characteristics and work environment, Beehr and
Newman (1978) identify seven key aspects of work stress including (i) Working
environment, (ii) Personal characteristics, (iii) Implementation process, (iv)
Individual consequences, (v) Organization consequences (vi) Adaptive responses,
(vii) Time. The relationship between aspects of work stress is simply described by
Beehr and Newman (1978). Agreeing with the definitions of work stress of Lazarus
(1966), Margolis and Kroes (1974), Caplan et al. (1975), Beehr and Newman (1978)
also point out that the stress occurs when existing interaction between the
psychological and physiological states of an individual (the aspect of individual
18
characteristics) and related factors involving to work (working environment aspects)
such as job requirements, employee expectations on their own role into the
organization, etc.
Hypothesis H7: Job stress has a negative influence on job performance.
2.3.5. The relationships between psychological capital, turnover intention, and
job performance.
2.3.5.1. The relationship between psychological capital and turnover intention
Avey & ctg. (2011) arrange the turnover intention into the group of the
employee’s undesirable job attitudes and affirm the exist of a negative relationship
between the turnover intention and the psychological capital of the employee.
According to Yim & ctg. (2017), the psychological capital and the turnover intention
of the employee are in relation to each other and the concentration to the employee's
psychological ability is considered as a suggestion to reduce his turnover intention.
Avey & ctg. (2009) find psychological capital as a positive capital to combat
employee resignation. Psychological capital helps reduce the negative impact of the
employee’s resignation intention (Karatepe and Karadas, 2014). Tuten and
Neidermeyer (2004) also recommend the employee’s regisnation intention will be
increased with the low level of psychological capital. Self-efficacy is related to the
employees' resignation intention (Harris and Cameron, 2005). People with more
hopes have a tendency to better adapt with changes in the working environment and
have less resignation intention (Kwok & ctg., 2015). Optimism allows individuals to
have favorable conditions and avoid unhappiness in life, boost their self-esteem and
spirit, shield them from sorrow, sin, torment and despair (Luthans and Youssef,
2004)
Hypothesis H8: The employee’s psychological capital has a negative
relationship with the employee’s turnover intention.
19
2.3.5.2. The relationships between turnover intention and job performance.
Experimental studies by Shafique & ctg (2018), Shu & ctg (2018), Biron
and Boon (2013), Rutherford & ctg (2012), Jaramillo & ctg (2006) have the same
conclusion that the employee’s turnover intention have a negative relationship with
the employee’s job performance.
turnover intention has a negative Hypothesis H9: The employee’s
relationship with the employee’s job performance.
2.4. Overview of the previous research
2.4.1 Previous research on the relationships between psychological capital and
job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, turnover intention.
The study surveyed 40 previous studies on the effects of psychological
capital on job attitude and job performance of employee published from 2005 to
2018, of which, 4 studies using meta-analysis and 36 studies using quantitative
analysis methods. The number of studies on the relationship between psychological
capital and employee’s job performance, employee’s job satisfaction, employee’s
organizational commitment, employee’s job stress, and employee's turnover intention
is 19, 21, 10, 9, and 12, respectively. According to the obtained results of previous
studies, psychological capital has a positive relationship with employee’s job
performance, job satisfaction, organizational commitment. Besides, psychological
capital has a negative relationship with job stress, turnover intention.
2.4.2. Previous research on the relationships between job attitudes and job
performance
The study also surveyed 35 previous studies on the impacts of employee’s
job attitudes including job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress,
turnover intention on employee’s job performance. All these studies were published
from 1984 to 2018, of which 7 studies using meta-analysis and 28 studies using
quantitative analysis methods. Specifically, the number of studies on the relationship
between job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job stress, turnover intention,
and employee’s job performance is 18, 16, 8, 8, respectively. Generally, the obtained
20
results of previous studies show that job satisfaction, organizational commitment has
positive relationships with employee’s job performance and job stress, turnover
intention has negative relationships with employee’s job performance.
21
CHAPTER 3 – RESEARCH DESIGN
3.1. Research Process
3.2. Research methodology
The study uses the combination of qualitative research method and
quantitative research method.
3.2.1. Qualitative research method
Referring to the survey questionnaires of previous studies, this research has
designed an interview questionnaire (draft) and used qualitative analysis methods to
edit, complete to an interview questionnaire (official) for research data collection.
Specifically, the qualitative analysis activity is conducted to :
(i) Examine the feasibility of applying a 5-level scale in measuring
responses;
(ii) Test the suitability and the consistency of the content of the pre-designed
scale;
(iii) Add new measurement variables to convey the meaning of the scale to
fit the research context in Vietnam.
Based on the research matters and the interviewees, researchers on human
resource management, senior and mid-level managers at enterprises, and employees
with at least five years of working experience are selected to study in this qualitative
research activity. The purpose of this selection is to try getting multi-dimensional,
critical, and complementary views from theoretical and practical perspectives.The
sample size for this qualitative research activity is 10, including 02 researchers, 04
managers, 04 employees.
To collect qualitative data, the collection tool used is a semi-structured
outline to guide the discussion. This outline is divided into 3 parts with 23 open-
ended questions about employee’s psychological capital, job attitudes, job
performance as well as the relationship between concepts and a pre-designed
questionnaire.
22
The two collection techniques used are individual discussion and group
discussion. The former is used when collecting data from researchers (to clarify and
deepen the problem) and from managers (due to their tight schedules). In addition,
group discussion with the above mentioned is not appropriate because the agreement
is not high, which can not be easy in a discussion (Tho, 2013). The latter is used
when collecting data from employees.
The content of the discussions is consolidated, analyzed, and used as a basis
to complete the questionnaire.
3.2.2. Quantitative research method
Apart from the descriptive statistics, reliability analysis of scales,
exploratory factor analysis (EFA), confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), common
method variance (CMV) test, structural equation model (SEM) are conducted to
estimate the relationship between concepts using SPSS 25 software and AMOS 24
software.
3.3. The research model and proposed hypotheses
3.3.1 The research model
Job satisfaction (denoted by SA), organizational commitment (denoted by
OC), job stress (denoted by JS), turnover intention (denoted by TI) are four
employee’s job attitudes are considered in relation to psychological capital (denoted
by PsyCap) and employee performance (denoted by JP).
In the real working context, there are always many different job attitudes of
the employee at the same time. Therefore, the study proposes an overall research
model (Figure 3.2) to consider the simultaneous impact of all four job attitudes on the
relationship between employee's psychological capital and job performance. This
approach helps gain a close understanding on the most real working context referring
mediating role of job attitudes to the relationship between employee's psychological
capital and employee's job performance.
23
Figure 3.2 - The overall research model on the relationship between
psychological capital, job attitudes and job performance of employees
H2
H3
SA
H4
H5
OC
PsyCap
JP
H1
H6
H7
JS
H8
H9
TI
Besides, four specific research models are given (figure 3.2a, figure 3.2b, figure
3.2c, figure 3.2d) to separately investigate the effects of each above job attitudes on
the relationships between psychological and job performance. This approach helps
understand the mediating role of each specific job attitude to the relationship between
two mentioned concepts.
Figure 3.2a – Research model on the relationship between psychological capital,
H3
H2
job satisfaction and job performance of employees (Model No. 1)
SA
H1
JP
PsyCap
Figure 3.2b – Research model on the relationship between psychological capital,
H5
H4
organizational commitment and job performance of employees (Model No. 2)
PsyCap
JP
OC H1
24
Figure 3.2c – Research model on the relationship between psychological capital,
H7
H6
job stress and job performance of employees (Model No. 3)
JS
JP
PsyCap
H1
Figure 3.2d – Research model on the relationship between psychological capital,
H9
H8
turnover intention and job performance of employees (Model No. 4)
H1
TI
JP
PsyCap
3.3.2. The proposed hypotheses
3.4. Development scales
3.4.1. Psychological capital scale
With the purpose of evaluating employee’s psychological capital level, this
study refers to the PCQ-24 psychological capital questionnaire edition which has
been very popular in a lot of previous studies. Through discussion with experts, pre-
design questionnaire is edited and appended. Specifically, the optimism scale has 02
existing items revised, the resiliency scale has 01 items altered and there are 2 new
items added for each scale including hope, resiliency, and optimism. Therefore, the
numbers of each component is 6, 8, 8, 8 respectively and the final psychological
capital scale included 30 items.
3.4.2. Job performance scale
The study has adopted from previous studies of Nguyen and Nguyen (2012);
Rego and Cunha (2008); Staples, Hulland, and Higgins (1999) to design
questionnaire on employee’s job performance. Then the study edits 01 item and adds
3 new items based on the experts’ opinion. Finally, job performance is measured by
25
07 items. Last but not least, five-point Likert scale (1 = Strongly disagree, 5 =
Strongly agree) is used to measure the response level.
3.4.3. Job satisfaction scale
The measurement scale of job satisfaction is built thanks to Job Satisfaction
Survey (JSS) by Spector (1985) as well as studies by Netemeyer et al. (1997), and
Jung and Yoon (2015), including 7 measurement variables. Throughout the
consultation sought from experts, two new measurement variables are added. The
official employee satisfaction job scale consists of 9 measurement variables.
3.4.4. Organizational commitment scale
Pre-design scale on employee’s organizational commitment refers to the
revised version of TCM Employee Commitment Survey of Meyer, Allen, and Smith
(1993). After experts’ discussion, 04 reverse-scored (negative) items are converted to
positive items, 03 items are edited to make the meaning clearer and 02 new items are
added. Hence, organizational commitment scale consisted of 20 items, including
three components such as: affective commitment, continuance commitment,
normative commitment.
3.4.5. Job stress scale
The study has referred to the Job Stress Scale (JSS) developed by Parker and
DeCotiis (1983) to measure job stress. Qualitative research activities were conducted
to help complete the study of employees' job stress by editing 02 measurement
variables and adding 01 new ones to the scale.
3.4.6. Turnover intention scale
This study’s initial scale of employees' turnover intention is built thanks to
scales in the previous studies by Avey et al (2009), Crossley and ctg (2002), Crossley
and ctg (2007). In qualitative research activities, experts have proposed adding 2 new
measurement variables. Therefore, the official employee’s turnover intention scale
used in this study includes 7 measurement variables.
26
3.4.7. Other scales
Besides, the study also has developed a qualitative scale on the personal
information of interviewees such as: (i) Gender; (ii) Age; (iii) Ethnic group; (iv)
Education; (v) Marital status; (vi) Income from current employment; (vii) Current
working place; (viii) Work experience; (ix) Characteristics of the working
organization.
3.4.8. Pre-test activity
The pre-test activity is conducted with the revised questionnaire, then
qualitative research. A narrow group of respondents comprising of 20 officers is
invited to participate in this activity by selecting the convenient sampling method.
Respondents are randomly divided into two different testing groups with ten people
per group. The first group participates in the first interview, and their feedback/
suggestions are the basis for the revision of the questionnaire. After that, the revised
questionnaire is used in the second test of the remaining group.
Through face-to-face interviews, respondents were asked for the following
questions (i) Is the answer guide easy to understand?, (ii) Are the statements easy to
understand?, (iii) Is there any statement that could easily be misleading?; (iv) Is there
any statement that expresses complicatedly?, (v) Is it impatient because the
questionnaire is too long ?. The study also noted comments on other issues of the
interviewees to adjust the interview techniques.
The last revised questionnaire after testing with the second group is
officially used for the survey activities.
3.5. Research data
The surveys are conducted in many provinces and cities of Vietnam in
November 2018. As a result, the data collection received 901 responses from officers
in the enterprises in 44 of 63 provinces and cities in the North, Central, and South of
Vietnam. Of which, 533 responses via printed questionnaires (approximately
59.16%) and 368 responses via online questionnaires (approximately 40.84%). After
cleaning up data, the responses either answered not all the questions or selected only
27
a single answer was removed, the sample size of the data used in the official study is
848.
Specifically, there are 421 male respondents (approximately 49.6%), and
427 female respondents (approximately 50.4%). Sorting by the working
organization’s characteristics, 368 interviewees (approximately 43.4%) working in
organizations under public sector, and 265 interviewees (approximately 31.2%)
under private sector without foreign investment, and 215 respondents (approximately
25.4%) under private sector with foreign investment. Besides, the respondents are
working in 44 of 63 provinces and cities of Vietnam and mostly in Ho Chi Minh City
(237 people, accounting for 27.95%), Dong Thap (133 people - 15.68% ), Long An
(104 people - 12.26%), Tien Giang (48 people - 5.66%), and Binh Dinh (32 people -
3.77%).
The study uses Microsoft Excel 2010, SPSS 25, and AMOS 24 software to
encode and analyze the collected data.
28
CHAPTER 4 – RESEARCH RESULTS
4.1. The descriptive statistic results
4.1.1. The results of qualitative variables
Table 4.1 – The descriptive statistic results of qualitative variables
Indicator
Quantity (person)
Ratio (%)
Total respondents
848
100
421 427
49.6 50.4
14 367 359 88 20 834 14
1.7 43.3 42.3 10.4 2.3 98.3 1.7
21 47 71 453 256
2.5 5.5 8.4 53.4 30.2
408 416 21 3
48.1 49 2.5 0.4
Per Gender - Male - Female Per Age - From 18 y.o to under 22 y.o - From 22 y.o to under 30 y.o - From 30 y.o to under 40 y.o - From 40 y.o to under 50 y.o - Over 50 y.o Per Ethnic group - Kinh - Others Per Education - High School Diploma - Diploma - Associate - Bachelor - Post-Graduate Per Marital Status - Single - Married - Divorced - Widow Per Income from current employment - Under 10 mil. - From 10 mil. to 20 mil. - From 20 mil. to 30 mil. - Over 30 mil.
434 271 96 47
51.2 32 11.3 5.5
237 133 104 48 32 294
27.95 15.68 12.26 5.66 3.77 34.67
23 218 168 439
2.7 25.7 19.8 51.8
Per current working location - Ho Chi Minh City - Dong Thap - Long An - Tien Giang - Binh Dinh - 39 other cities/provinces Per working experience - Under 01 yr - From 01 yr to under 3 yrs - From 03 yrs to under 5 yrs - 5 yrs & above Per current organizational characteristics - Public sector - Private sector without FDI - Private sector with FDI
368 265 215
43.4 31.2 25.4
29
Source: Author’s consolidation 4.1.2. The results of quantitative variables
In all observation variables, interviewees are responded with a minimum
value of 1 and a maximum value of 5. They have level psychological capital, job
satisfaction as well as organizational commitment which are above average. Most of
the respondents do not intend to quit their jobs and they also encountered less job
stress.
4.2. Reliability analysis of scales
The reliability analysis of scales is conducted by Cronbach’s Alpha
coefficient. Because psychological capital and organizational commitment are high-
level constructs, the analysis of these two constructs is conducted for each
component scale. After eliminating substandard variables, the number of variables on
each scale of psychological capital, job satisfaction, organizational commitment, job
stress, and turnover intention is 22, 4, 14, 10, and 7, respectively. Particularly, the job
performance scale still has 7 variables because there are not any variables removed.
30
4.3. Exploratory factor analysis (EFA)
The study conducts Exploratory Factor Analysis to each concept by using
the Principal Axis Factoring extraction method and the Promax rotation method.
Results of exploratory factor analysis are obtained as follows: (i) There are two
variables removed, and four factors extracted in psychological capital scale; (ii) there
is one factor extracted in each scale of job satisfaction, job stress, turnover intention;
(iii) there are three factors extracted in organizational commitment scale.
4.4. Confirmatory factor analysis of high-order contructs
Psychological capital and organizational commitment are second-order
structures. Therefore, the analysis of the confirmatory factor is implemented. The
results of the analysis are obtained: the psychological capital measurement model
consists of four lower-order latent variables such as optimism, self-efficacy,
resiliency, and hope while the organizational commitment comprising of 3 lower-
order latent variables that are affective commitment, normative commitment, and
continuance commitment. So, the above results are consistent with the research data
collected.
4.5. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job attitudes and job
performance
4.5.1. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job satisfaction and
job performance
4.5.1.1. Exploratory factor analysis of the overall scale
Using the Principal Axis Factoring method and the Promax rotation method,
the obtained final results following: one more observation variable of psychological
capital is excluded, 6 factors are extracted.
4.5.1.2. Confirmatory factor analysis of the overall scale
The study performs confirmatory factor analysis for the model of three main
structures: psychological capital, job satisfaction, and job performance. The
analytical results help to conclude that the model is consistent with the research data
31
collected, and achieves reliability and validity.
Next, the common method variance test is implemented by using common
latent factor technique. The obtained result shows that the research results are not
misleading by the common method bias.
4.5.1.3. Structural equation modeling analysis
The structure equation modeling analysis is used to establish the relationship
between the structures due to the builted measurement model.
R2 = .355
Figure 4.4 – The results of the path model
SA
.868***
.135***
R2 = .660
.680***
JP PsyCap
Resource: Author’s consolidation 4.5.1.4. Discussion the result
Psychological capital has a statistically significant positive relationship with
employee’s job performance. Psychological capital has also a high positive impact on
job satisfaction. The third direct impact of job satisfaction on employee’s job
performance is positive. All three impacts are statistically significant at the 1%
significance level. So, hypotheses H1, H2, H3 are supported.
This study does not only investigate the direct relationships between
constructs but also explore the indirect effect of psychological capital on employee’s
job performance through his job satisfaction. The magnitude of this impact is
0.11718. Therefore, the total effect of psychological on job performance is 0.79718,
and that is stronger than the direct effect of them The appearance of job satisfaction
as the mediator helps increase the impact of psychological capital on job
32
performance.
4.5.2. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job satisfaction and
job performance
4.5.2.1. Exploratory factor analysis of the overall scale
Using the Principal Axis Factoring method and the Promax rotation method,
the obtained final results following: one more observation variable of organizational
commitment is excluded, 8 factors are extracted
4.5.2.2. Confirmatory factor analysis of the overall scale
The study performs CFA for the model of three main structures:
psychological capital (PsyCap), organizational commitment (OC), and job
performance (JP). In the measurement model of psychological capital, low-latent
constructs include optimism (OP), self-efficacy (SE), resilience (RE) and hope (HO),
high-latent construct is psychological capital (PsyCap). In the measurement model of
psychological capital, low-latent constructs include affective commitment (OC_1),
normative commitment (OC_2), continuance commitment (OC_3), high-latent
construct is organizational commitment (OC).
The analytical results help to conclude that the model is consistent with the
research data collected, and achieves reliability and validity.
Next, the common method variance test is implemented by using common
latent factor technique. The obtained result shows that the research results are not
misleading by the common method bias.
4.5.2.3. Structural equation modeling analysis
The structure equation modeling analysis is used to establish the relationship
between the structures due to the builted measurement model.
33
R2 = .282
Figure 4.6 – The results of the path model
.061**
.692***
R2 = .644
.739***
OC
JP PsyCap
Source: Author’s consolidation
4.5.2.4. Discussion the result
Psychological capital has also a high positive (0.739) impact on job
performance. This impact is statistically significant at the 1% significance level.
Psychological capital also has a statistically significant positive relationship with
employee’s organizational commitment at the 1% significance level. The magnitude
of this impact is 0.692. Besides, the third direct effect of organizational commitment
on job performance is positive. This impact is very weak – only 0.061 and it is a
statistical significance at the 5% significance level. So, hypotheses H1, H4, H5 are
supported.
This study also explore the indirect effect of psychological capital on
employee’s job performance through his organizational commitment. The magnitude
of this impact is 0.0422. Therefore, the total effect of psychological on job
performance is 0.74322, and that is stronger than the direct effect of them. The
appearance of organizational commitment as the mediator variable helps increase the
impact of psychological capital on job performance.
4.5.3. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job stress and job
performance
4.5.3.1. Exploratory factor analysis of the overall scale
Using the Principal Axis Factoring method and the Promax rotation method,
the obtained result is 6 factors extracted. This result is appropriate since 4 factors
represent 4 components of psychological capital, the other 2 factors are job
34
performance and job stress of employees.
4.5.3.2. Confirmatory factor analysis of the overall scale
The study performs CFA for the model of three main structures:
psychological capital (PsyCap), job stress (JS), and job performance (JP). In the
measurement model of psychological capital, low-latent constructs include optimism
(OP), self-efficacy (SE), resilience (RE) and hope (HO), high-latent construct is
psychological capital (PsyCap).
The analytical results help to conclude that the model is consistent with the
research data collected, and achieves reliability and validity.
Next, the common method variance test is implemented by using common
latent factor technique. The obtained result shows that the research results are not
misleading by the common method bias.
4.5.3.3. Structural equation modeling analysis
The structure equation modeling analysis is used to establish the relationship
between the structures due to the builted measurement model.
R2 = .233
Figure 4.8 – The results of the path model
-.202***
-.287***
R2 = .636
.796***
JS
JP PsyCap
Source: Author’s consolidation
4.5.3.4. Discussion the result
Psychological capital has also a high positive (0.796) impact on job
performance. This impact is statistically significant at the 1% significance level.
Psychological capital also has a statistically significant negative relationship with
employee’s job stress at the 1% significance level. The magnitude of this impact is -
35
0.287. Besides, the third direct effect of job stress on job performance is negative.
The magnitude of this impact is -0.202 and it is a statistical significance at the 1%
significance level. So, hypotheses H1, H6, H7 are supported.
This study also explore the indirect effect of psychological capital on
employee’s job performance through job stress. The magnitude of this impact is
0.0579. Therefore, the total effect of psychological on job performance is 0.8539, and
that is stronger than the direct effect of them. The appearance of job stress as the
mediator variable helps increase the impact of psychological capital on job
performance.
4.5.4. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, turnover intention
and job performance
4.5.4.1. Exploratory factor analysis of the overall scale
Using the Principal Axis Factoring method and the Promax rotation method,
the obtained result is 6 factors extracted. This result is appropriate since 4 factors
represent 4 components of psychological capital, the other 2 factors are job
performance and turnover intention of employees.
4.5.4.2. Confirmatory factor analysis of the overall scale
The study performs CFA for the model of three main structures:
psychological capital (PsyCap), turnover intention (TI), and job performance (JP). In
the measurement model of psychological capital, low-latent constructs include
optimism (OP), self-efficacy (SE), resilience (RE) and hope (HO), high-latent
construct is psychological capital (PsyCap).
The analytical results help to conclude that the model is consistent with the
research data collected, and achieves reliability and validity.
Next, the common method variance test is implemented by using common
latent factor technique. The obtained result shows that the research results are not
misleading by the common method bias.
36
4.5.4.3. Structural equation modeling analysis
The structure equation modeling analysis is used to establish the relationship
between the structures due to the builted measurement model.
R2 = .210
Figure 4.10 – The results of the path model
-.204***
-.230***
R2 = .639
.780***
TI
JP PsyCap
Source: Author’s consolidation 4.5.4.4. Discussion the result
Psychological capital has also a high positive (0.780) impact on job
performance. This impact is statistically significant at the 1% significance level.
Psychological capital also has a statistically significant negative relationship with
employee’s turnover intention at the 1% significance level. The magnitude of this
impact is -0.230. Besides, the third direct effect of turnover intention on job
performance is negative. The magnitude of this impact is -0.204 and it is a statistical
significance at the 1% significance level. So, hypotheses H1, H8, H9 are supported.
This study also explore the indirect effect of psychological capital on
employee’s job performance through turnover intention. The magnitude of this
impact is 0.0469. Therefore, the total effect of psychological on job performance is
0.8269, and that is stronger than the direct effect of them. The appearance of turnover
intention as the mediator variable helps increase the impact of psychological capital
on job performance.
4.5.5. Assess the relationships between psychological capital, job attitudes and
job performance
4.5.5.1. Exploratory factor analysis of the overall scale
Using the Principal Axis Factoring method and the Promax rotation method,
the obtained result is 11 factors extracted. This result is appropriate since 4 factors
represent 4 components of psychological capital, 3 factors are 3 components of
37
organizational commitment, the remaining 4 factors are job performance, job
satisfaction, job stress and turnover intention of employees.
4.5.5.2. Confirmatory factor analysis of the overall scale
Based on the obtained results of exploratory factor analysis of the overall
scale, the study performs CFA for the model of six main structures: psychological
capital (PsyCap), job satisfaction (JS), organizational commitment (OC), job stress
(JS), turnover intention (TI), and job performance (JP). In the measurement model of
psychological capital, low-latent constructs include optimism (OP), self-efficacy
(SE), resilience (RE) and hope (HO), high-latent construct is psychological capital
(PsyCap). In the measurement model of psychological capital, low-latent constructs
include affective commitment (OC_1), normative commitment (OC_2), continuance
commitment (OC_3), high-latent construct is organizational commitment (OC).
The analytical results help to conclude that the model is consistent with the
research data collected, and achieves reliability and validity.
Next, the common method variance test is implemented by using common
latent factor technique. The obtained result shows that the research results are not
misleading by the common method bias.
4.5.5.3. Structural equation modeling analysis
The structure equation modeling analysis is used to establish the relationship
between the structures due to the builted measurement model.
38
Figure 4.12 – The results of the path model
SA
0.063
0.970***
OC
-0.052
0.829***
0.767***
JP
PsyCap
-0.461***
0.023
JS
-0.487***
0.059***
TI
Source: Author’s consolidation
4.5.5.4. Discussion the result
Psychological capital has impacts on the five remaining constructs of the
structural model. These impacts are statistically significant at the 1% significance
level. Specifically, the effects of psychological capital on job performance, job
satisfaction, and organizational commitment are positive. On the contrary, the effects
of psychological capital on job stress, and turnover intention are negative. So,
proposed hypotheses such as H1, H2, H4, H6, H8 are accepted.
Yet, the obtained results on the effects of job attitudes on job performance
are not the same. Turnover intention is the only employee’s job attitude that has a
statistically significant relationship with employee’s job performance. Although the
impact’s magnitude is very weak (0.059), it is enough to conclude that this effect is
positive. Thus, the remaining proposed hypotheses include H3, H5, H7, and H9 are not
supported.
Finally, in the overall model, turnover intention is the only employee’s job
attitude that demonstrates the role of a mediator variable in the relationship between
psychological capital and employee’s job performance. Job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, and job stress do not show this role.
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CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND MANAGERIAL IMPLICATIONS 5.1. Conclusion
This study is conducted to explore the relationships between psychological
capital, specific employee’s job attitudes (job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, job stress, turnover intention), and employee’s job performance. An
overall research model and four specific research models on the relationships
between the above constructs.as well as 9 hypotheses are proposed.
Both qualitative research method and quantitative research method are mixed in
this study. This is the primary research data collected via surveys in November 2018.
Respondents are employees from various companies across industries in Vietnam.
After removing duplicate or inaccurate records, the official sample size is 848.
The obtained results of proposed specific research models as follows:
Firstly, psychological capital has statistically significant positive relationships
with employee’s job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment at
the 1% significance level.
Secondly, psychological capital has statistically significant negative relationships
with employee’s job stress, and turnover intention at the 1% significance level.
Thirdly, employee’s job satisfaction has a statistically significant positive
relationship with employee’s job performance at the 1% significance level whilst
organizational commitment has a similar impact at the 5% significance level.
Next, job stress and turnover intention have statistically significant negative
relationships with employee’s job performance at the 1% significance level.
Finally, all proposed hypotheses are supported, and all specific employee’s job
attitudes show the mediating role in the relationship between psychological capital
and job performance.
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The obtained results of proposed overall research model as follows:
Firstly, psychological capital has statistically significant positive relationships
with employee’s job performance, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment at
the 1% significance level.
Secondly, psychological capital has statistically significant negative relationships
with employee’s job stress, and turnover intention at the 1% significance level.
Thirdly, employee’s job satisfaction, organizational commitment, and job stress
do not have statistically significant relationships with employee’s job performance at
the 5% significance level whilst turnover intention is the only job attitudes that has a
statistically significant positive relationship with employee’s job performance at the
1% significance level. Next, five proposed hypotheses such as H1, H2, H4, H6, H8 are supported, and
four remaining hypotheses are not supported.
Finally, turnover intention is the only employee’s job attitude that demonstrates
the role of a mediator variable in the relationship between psychological capital and
employee’s job performance.
5.2. New contributions of the study
The dissertation has made new contributions in both academic and empirical
aspects as follows:
Firstly, The study provides the theoretical addition on the impact of
employee’s psychological capital on their job performance through some new
mediator variables such as employee’s job stress, employee’s turnover intention,
employee’s job satisfaction, employee’s organizational commitment. According to
the obtained results, when analyzing the mediating effect of each attitude, all four
specific job attitudes show a mediating role in the relationship between psychological
capital and employee’s job performance. However, when the mediating effects of all
four job attitudes to be analyzed at the same time, only employee’s turnover intention
demonstrates this role.
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Secondly, there are some new empirical contributions in the study when
Vietnam is selected as the research context. The research in the Vietnam reality
context will provide a better understanding of the matters related to psychological
capital, job performance, and employee’s job attitudes in Vietnam. Therefore,
appropriate solutions will be come up to increase the capacity of psychological
capital, change the attitude towards the work as well as increase the job performance
of employees in Vietnam. Besides, this study’s results show the confirmation
regarding the structural relationship between psychological capital and employee’s
job performance in Vietnam, of which there is an existence of mediator variables that
are employee’s specific job attitudes (job stress, turnover intention, job satisfaction,
organizational commitment).
5.3. Managerial implications
(i) To increase the capacity of psychological capital
First, it is necessary for managers to take consideration into psychological
capital as an important factor that helps improve job satisfaction, organizational
commitment, job performance as well as decreasing job stress and turnover intention
of employees. More suggestions for managers are to develop a questionnaire to
measure psychological capital according to the organization’s characteristics of
employees, business industries…and periodically evaluate and organize short-term
psychological training courses for employees.
In addition, based on the obtained evaluation results on employee’s
psychological capital capacity, managers convince micro-intervention activities in
terms of group workshops with 2-3 hours.
Finally, the study suggests that enterprises should have psychologist to take
care of the mental and psychological health of their employees.
(ii) To improve job satisfaction and organizational commitment of employees.
It is advised to create friendly working environment with many engagement
activities, employee development program for employee’s organizational
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commitment. Apart from those, for the effort of enhancing employee’s job
performance, 2-ways internal communication activities should be promoted within
the organization to incorporate employee’s personal working goals and needs with
their assigned works.
Besides, flexible working hours, convenient office location, good working
facilities are next suggestions to improve employee’s job satisfaction and
organizational commitment.
In addition, salaries and benefits, that are built in terms of the real labor
market and highly competitive with enterprises in the same industries, are also
important suggestions for managers.
Last but not least, establishing a system to evaluate employee’s performance
accurately and objectively, creating development opportunities for employees,
having trust in and empowering employees more are essential actions.
(iii) To limit employee’s job stress
First, listening, sharing, and assisting in solving working difficulties from
managers will help employees deal with job stress more easily.
Next, it is essential to help employees understand the goals and
requirements of each job as well as the importance of the work at the beginning of
the work cycle. As a result, employees focus more on the tasks and appropriately
allocate working time to limit the ability to be stress.
Last, improving employee’s psychological capital capacity and joining in
soft skill training courses on time management, problem solving as well as stress
coping also are some suggestions.
To limit employee’s turnover intention
The above suggestions such as increasing psychological capital capacity,
creating the friendly working environment, providing good working facilities,
establishing competitive salary regime, designing appropriate workflow process, etc
are also suggestions to limit employee’s turnover intention.
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5.4. Limitations and agenda for future research
5.4.1. Limitations
Firstly, only employee’s four specific job attitudes include job satisfaction,
organizational commitment, job stress, turnover intention are studied in this research.
There are other specific job attitudes that exist in the real working context. So, it is
necessary to study different specific job attitude.
Secondly, studies on the relationships between these constructs in either
specific sectors or industry are not implemented. Besides, studies on the moderating
role of age, working experience, education, etc on the relationships between
psychological capital, job attitudes, and job performance are not conducted.
Thirdly, the effects of specific job attitudes together on the overall
relationship with psychological capital and job performance of employees.
5.4.2. Agenda for future research
According to limitations shown, studies on the relationships between
psychological capital, job performance, and other job attitudes as well as the
moderator on the impact of psychological capital on job performance are potential
research in the future.
