How to Increase Job Satisfaction and Performance? Start with Thriving: The Serial Mediation Effect of Psychological Capital and Burnout

Abstract

Based on the Job Demands-Resources and Broaden and Build theories, this study examines the role of thriving at work and psychological capital on burnout and, ultimately, job satisfaction and performance one year later. We used structural equation modeling to test the model on a sample of 317 Romanian correctional officers in a two-wave study at T1 and one year later (T2). The results indicate that thriving at work at Time 1 is positively linked to psychological capital at Time 1, and negatively related to burnout at Time 2. Meanwhile, burnout at Time 2 is negatively related to job satisfaction and performance at Time 2. The mediating chain effect of psychological capital at Time 1 and burnout at Time 2 is significant. Thriving at work and psychological capital are essential factors contributing to a decrease in subsequent burnout and increased job satisfaction and performance. In a thriving environment, correctional officers are more resilient, confident, optimistic, and hopeful at work, generating lower burnout over time and increasing job satisfaction and performance. Supervisors need to be encouraged to create a thriving work environment to increase psychological capital, reduce burnout, and improve correctional officers’ satisfaction and performance.

Research on the influence of team psychological capital on team members’ work performance

“…Airline companies should focus more attention on team members' psychological capital, which is beneficial for their performance (Yan et al, 2022). The same conclusion was reached not only by Romanian correctional officers (Okros and Vîrgă, 2022) but also by employees from seven five-star hotels in China (Huang et al, 2021). Among them, the self-efficacy and resilience dimensions of psychological capital showed a strong positive correlation with the related dimensions of work performance.…”

“… Paliga et al (2022) proved the correlative relationship between psychological capital and job performance at both the individual and team levels ( Vanno et al, 2014 ; Xiaoyun, 2019 ; Yan et al, 2022 ). At the same time, Xiaoman et al (2022) show that team-level variables, such as team psychological capital, have a corresponding effect on individual employee-level variables ( Okros and Vîrgă, 2022 ). Team psychological capital has an impact on team members’ work performance that cannot be underestimated.…”

Inclusive leadership and job satisfaction in Omani higher education: the mediation of psychological ownership and employee thriving

“…Thriving at work is defined as "the psychological state in which individuals experience both a sense of vitality and a sense of learning at work" (Spreitzer et al, 2005, p. 538); that needs to be studied because of its positive effects on work-related outcomes (Shahid et al, 2020). Furthermore, it has been argued that the literature on thriving at work remains scattered (Kleine et al, 2019), and more research is needed to study its antecedents (Shahid et al, 2020) and outcomes (Okros and Vîrg a, 2022). Additionally, there is a scarcity of research targeting the impact of employee thriving on job satisfaction (Jiang et al, 2020).…”

“…, 2019), and more research is needed to study its antecedents (Shahid et al. , 2020) and outcomes (Okros and Vîrgă, 2022). Additionally, there is a scarcity of research targeting the impact of employee thriving on job satisfaction (Jiang et al.…”

Psychological capital and breakthrough innovation: The role of tacit knowledge sharing and task interdependence

“…It refers to an internal positive mental state of an individual (Luthans and Youssef, 2004), usually including four dimensions: self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience. Recent research perspectives on employees' psychological capital tend to be diversified, covering themes such as personal job satisfaction, job performance, innovative behavior and ability, and so on (Alessandri et al, 2018;Kumar et al, 2022;Okros and Vîrgă, 2022). In general, psychological state will affect the output of individual behavior.…”