Student personality and academic achievement: mediating role of psychological capital (PsyCap)

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of a second-order state-like construct “psychological capital” (or PsyCap) as an underlying mechanism explaining the personality–academic achievement (AA) relationship in the educational context. Design/methodology/approach The conceptual model was statistically tested on a sample of 305 post-graduate students at a premier business school in central India using standard measures of personality and PsyCap. AA was measured through cumulative grade point average obtained from the administrative office. Data were collected through multiple sources to minimize common method variance. Analysis was done using macro PROCESS and validated using PLS–SEM. Findings Results indicated that PsyCap positively influenced AA. Furthermore, PsyCap mediated the relationship between openness to experience, extraversion, agreeableness dimensions of student personality and AA. Research limitations/implications Longitudinal research designs with interventions to enhance PsyCap of students may strengthen the findings of this study. Practical implications The findings suggest that the curriculum in higher education institutions should include interventions on building the PsyCap of the students as it positively correlates to the AA. Academic administrators may not have control on students’ dispositional traits, but they can design interventions to improve the psychological (state like) resources of the students. Follow-up interviews with academic administrators reinforced these implications. Originality/value This study provided initial evidence that positivity, in general, and PsyCap, in particular, have a positive impact on students’ AA. This is one of the first studies to examine the role of PsyCap in personality–AA relation in the higher educational context wherein high levels of stress and burnouts have been reported by students due to high competition in achieving goals.

Changes in Finnish ninth graders’ positive psychological capital (PsyCap) in a strength-based student guidance intervention

“…Having described what PsyCap is and its main elements, it is also important to explain why PsyCap is important to adolescents' development. According to research, PsyCap enhances students' academic performance, well-being, positive resources, mental health, and positive behaviours (Burhanuddin et al, 2019;Nambudiri et al, 2020;Selvaraj & Bhat, 2018;Wang et al, 2014). Poots and Cassidy (2019) discovered that students with high PsyCap could avoid stress in studies and maintain physical and psychological well-being better than their peers with low PsyCap.…”

“…For example, Dolev Amit et al (2020) proved that a strengths-based intervention enhanced optimism, self-esteem, and positive affect in adolescents. Nambudiri et al's (2020) PsyCap intervention provided evidence that positivity in general and PsyCap specifically influence positively on students' academic achievements. There are also interventions that have aimed specifically to improve PsyCap.…”

Do high-commitment work systems engage employees? Mediating role of psychological capital

“…According to Luthans et al (2007), psychological capital (PsyCap) is a “positive appraisal of circumstances, and probability for success based on motivated effort and perseverance” (p. 550) that comprises four personal cognitive resources – self-efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience share common aspects with persistence, effort and regulation. The first, self-efficacy, is self-belief in one’s competence or chances of successfully executing and accomplishing goals (Nambudiri et al , 2019; Shahid and Muchiri, 2019). Optimism and hope describe positive expectations regarding performance outcomes and deriving paths to desired goals, respectively (Luthans et al , 2007).…”

A Study of the Relationship Between Job Insecurity and Obedience to Authority, The Moderating Role of Psychological Capital

“…This method has been proved effective in previous yesrs. For example, in previous experiments, PsyCap can regulate the affective well-being (AWB) [6] and the role of influencing students' academic achievement [7]. The PsyCap questionnaire has also been shown to reflect people's psychological states.…”