Examining the mediating and moderating role of psychological capital in the job demands-resources model

Brouze, Kim Lisa

Examining the mediating and moderating role of psychological capital in the job demands-resources model

Master Thesis

2014

Publisher

University of Cape Town

Department

Organisational Psychology

Faculty

Faculty of Commerce

Abstract

Employee wellbeing has become a major concern for organisations globally, with an increased interest in the prevention of burnout and the maximisation of employee work engagement. Burnout and work engagement are of particular importance to organisations due to their respective negative and positive outcomes on employees. While burnout is linked to high turnover intentions and low performance, work engagement has a positive correlation with job satisfaction, life satisfaction and extra-role performance. Accordingly, the job demands-resources (JD-R) model was developed as a theoretical framework, highlighting those work characteristics that predict employee work engagement and burnout. A main criticism of the JD-R model is its lack of consideration for the impact of personal resources on employee wellbeing. Emanating from this concern, the current study used the conservation of resources (COR) theory to empirically test whether the personal resource of psychological capital or PsyCap (conceptualised as self-efficacy, hope, optimism and resilience) interacted within the health impairment and motivation processes of the JD-R model. More specifically, this study examined whether PsyCap moderated the relationship between job demands and burnout and mediated the relationship between job resources and work engagement.

Description

Includes bibliographical references.

Keywords

Organisational Psychology

Reference:

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