The Influence of Volunteers’ Psychological Capital: Mediating Role of Organizational Commitment, and Joint Moderating Effect of Role Identification and Perceived Social Support

Abstract

This study explores the relationship between volunteers' psychological capital and their commitment to volunteering. We tested whether volunteers' psychological capital had a positive predictive effect on volunteering and whether this effect was mediated by organizational commitment, role identification, or perceived social support. A sample of 1165 volunteers who were registered in the national volunteer service information system of China were recruited in the study. The results showed a significant and positive relationship between volunteers' psychological capital, volunteering, role identification, perceived social support, and organizational commitment. Volunteers' psychological capital not only had a direct effect on volunteering but also affected volunteering through the mediating role of organizational commitment. Additionally, the influence of the volunteers' psychological capital on organizational commitment was affected by the joint moderated effect of role identification and perceived social support. Volunteers with low role identification and low perceived social support, high role identification and low perceived social support, and low role identification and high perceived social support committed to their volunteer organization faster when they had a high level of psychological capital; whereas, volunteers with high role identification and high perceived social support committed to their volunteer organization faster when they had a low level of psychological capital.

A Tale of Two Capitals: How Task-Oriented and Guanxi-Oriented Psychological Capitals Lead to a Sustainable Workforce in Rural China

“…Task-oriented and guanxi-oriented PsyCaps were found to be positive predictors of organizational commitment. This is consistent with previous studies in China ( Ke and Sun, 2014 ; Xu et al, 2020 ) and with the findings in the west ( Larson and Luthans, 2006 ; Newman et al, 2018 ). Thus, our study provides further support for the association between PsyCap and organizational commitment.…”

“…In a study exploring the correlation between volunteers’ PsyCap and their commitment to volunteer service, Xu et al (2020) reported a positive influence of the PsyCap on their organizational commitment. The PsyCap in their study refers to the traditional version covering self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience ( Luthans and Youssef, 2007 ).…”

Ostracism, Psychological Capital, Perceived Social Support and Depression among Economically Disadvantaged Youths: A Moderated Mediation Model

“…The resilience subscale measures an individual’s ability to sustain adversity and bounce back from difficult life events (e.g., “ I can bounce back quickly when I encounter setbacks ”). The scale has been widely used to measure the psychological capital in China and demonstrated good internal consistency and validity [ 34 , 45 ]. In the present study, the internal consistency for PPQ was good (Cronbach’s α = 0.931).…”

Enhancing Internal Learning in Teams: The Role of Network Centrality and Psychological Capital of Undergraduate Students

“…Despite that self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience are depicted as different conceptual capabilities, certain authors such as Luthans et al (2007) argued that these constructs share a common variation called PsyCap. PsyCap is widely cited in the literature as a malleable construct more open to development, as opposed to trait-like constructs such as the Big five personality factors ( Datu et al, 2016 ; Chen et al, 2019 ; Xu et al, 2020 ).…”