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Abstract

Employee engagement is key to staying competitive in today’s business environment. Nowadays, companies not only have to consider hard factors, like revenues and sales figures, but also soft factors like psychological capital (or PsyCap) if they want to stand out among the competition. PsyCap, an higher-order core-positive factor comprised of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism, is related to several positive outcomes in employee attitudes, behavior and performance (Avey, Luthans, Smith, & Palmer, 2010; Avey, Reichard, Luthans, & Mhatre, 2011). Various studies have come to the conclusion that the development of PsyCap leads to increased work performance and job satisfaction (Abbas, Raja, Darr, & Bouckenooghe, 2014), as well as psychological well-being (Avey, Luthans, Smith, & Palmer, 2010), and organizational commitment (Jensen & Luthans, 2006; NGUYEN & NGO, 2020). Empirical research confirms that PsyCap can be developed through short, highly focused group intervention (Luthans, Avey, Avolio, Norman, & Combs, 2006; Luthans, Avey, Avolio, & Peterson, 2010; Luthans, Avey, & Patera, 2008) and individual on-line sessions (Luthans et al., 2008). However, PsyCap training interventions have rarely been replicated using diverse settings with different populations and training facilitators that do not belong to the previous PsyCap instructors such as Luthans and colleagues (Dello Russo & Stoykova, 2015). To date, there are also no PsyCap interventions that involve innovative approaches like the inclusion of gamification techniques.

This dissertation examines if PsyCap as a core construct can be developed in the workplace through two different training programs based on the four components of hope, self-efficacy, resilience, and optimism. In this context, it investigates how a gamified online training and several classroom trainings affect the PsyCap of individuals. More specifically, the present thesis focuses on the implementation and evaluation of an innovative gamified online training (study 1) and nine classroom trainings (study 2) to enhance the individual PsyCap of employees within the development organization of a multinational software corporation. The goals of the research study are threefold: (1) Comparing the two training methods (gamified online training and classroom training) in terms of effectiveness, (2) examining the longevity of the psychological capital interventions (PCI) using a two-month follow-up measure; and (3) comprehensively evaluating the PsyCap trainings.

The first empirical study examines the effectiveness of the PCI using an innovative gamified online training platform in which 57 participants took part. It uses a pretest, posttest control-group experimental design. The second empirical study tests the effectiveness of the PCI containing nine classroom trainings where 83 employees participated including an additional follow-up measure to determine the effectiveness of the PsyCap trainings over time. The investigation method of the studies consists of a quantitative online survey. Additionally, the relationships towards, and influence factor of PsyCap on work engagement, job satisfaction, and organizational commitment are assessed. Finally, both studies are compared to each other in terms of their method and results.

The results of this dissertation show an increase in PsyCap in both training approaches. Nevertheless, no significant differences after the PsyCap training and over time compared to the control groups can be observed in the studies. In addition to the results, significant positive relationships exist between PsyCap and work engagement as well as between PsyCap and job satisfaction in both studies. There are no significant positive relationships between PsyCap and organizational commitment for study 1 and 2. Moreover, a significant proportion of work engagement and job satisfaction can be explained by PsyCap in both studies and at all measurement points. However, this is not valid for organizational commitment in study 1. Only a small percentage of the variance in organizational commitment is explained by PsyCap at T2 in study 2. Finally, the results of the post-training evaluation showed that the majority of the participants from study 1 and 2 would recommend the PsyCap training to a colleague or friend.

PsyCap has been regarded as a positive organizational behavior (POB) construct that is open for development and affects the functioning of employees and teams. It can achieve positive effects in an organizational context. The results of the studies indicate that employees’ PsyCap can be increased through a gamified online and classroom training intervention in the workplace. Although the results did not show significant differences, they indicated a positive trend in both studies over time. Furthermore, the studies demonstrated the impact of PsyCap on important work-related variables such as job satisfaction and work engagement. Based on the results of the studies, approaches for future research as well as practice-oriented recommendations for human resource development in organizations and for the enhancement of PsyCap are presented. Limitations with regard to the lack of a second control group, the lack of randomization of the study participants to the study conditions, and the small sample size are also highlighted.