This study is situated in the paradigms of positive organizational scholarship (POS) and positive organizational behaviour (POB). It draws upon the theoretical mechanisms of social learning and emotional contagion to suggest that psychological capital may spread through work teams to impact team outcomes such as performance, innovation, and organizational citizenship behavior (OCB). The degree to which team psychological capital (TPsyCap) mediated the relationship between leader psychological capital (LPsyCap) and team outcomes was also tested (n = 94 teams; n = 94 leaders; n = 550 employees). Using structural equation modelling, LPsyCap and TPsyCap were both related to team-level organizational citizenship behavior, team performance, and team innovation. However, the relationship between LPsyCap and TPsyCap was not significant. These findings support the positioning of psychological capital as an important resource for optimal team functioning but also suggest that workplaces cannot expect that leaders, through their own psychological capital alone, can create team-level psychological capital. Instead, the current research suggests that other organizational initiatives and experiences are needed to enhance LPsyCap. The results contribute to a better understanding of POS and POB in general and, specifically, to the recently emerging construct of team psychological capital.
This qualitative study explored the presence of growth, distress, deliberate rumination (a type of positive rumination as opposed to intrusive rumination) and dialectical thinking in a sample of unemployed people. Semi-structured interviews with 22 unemployed people were analyzed using deductive thematic analysis. Fryer's (1992) agency-restriction theory and Jahoda's (1988) latent deprivation theory were used to examine distress, whereas Tedeschi and Calhoun's (2004a) posttraumatic growth theory and Latack and Dozier's career growth model (1986) were used to analyze growth. As a result of dealing with the challenges of unemployment, participants became connected with their inner strengths, experienced gratitude for their supportive relationships, felt compassion for other unemployed people and became open to new career pathways. Deliberate rumination and dialectical thinking appeared to promote posttraumatic growth. This study applied a positive psychology approach to unemployment and examined the relevance of posttraumatic growth within the context of job loss. The paper suggests ways in which unemployment counseling can adopt the dual aims of ameliorating distress and fostering growth.
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