Perceived organisational support and well-being: The role of psychological capital as a mediator

SA Journal of Industrial Psychology ISSN: (Online) 2071-0763, (Print) 0258-5200 Page 1 of 11 Original Research Perceived organisational support and well-being: The role of psychological capital as a mediator Authors: Anja Roemer1 Chantel Harris1 Affiliations: 1 Department of Industrial and Organisational Psychology, Nelson Mandela University, South Africa Corresponding author: Chantel Harris, Dates: Received: 26 Feb. 2018 Accepted: 19 Aug. 2018 Published: 01 Oct. 2018 How to cite this article: Roemer, A., & Harris, C. (2018). Perceived organisational support and well-being: The role of psychological capital as a mediator. SA Journal of Industrial Psychology/SA Tydskrif vir Bedryfsielkunde, 44(0), a1539. https://doi.org/ 10.4102/sajip.v44i0.1539 Copyright: © 2018. The Authors. Licensee: AOSIS. This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License. Orientation: Today’s competitive work environment requires organisations and employees to successfully cope with challenges to maintain healthy levels of well-being. It is, therefore, imperative to investigate which organisational and psychological factors contribute to well-being in employees. Research purpose: This study served to analyse whether psychological capital (PsyCap) mediates the relationship between perceived organisational support (POS) and well-being. Motivation for the study: In light of the positive psychology movement, this study aimed to investigate how positive constructs actively contribute to employee well-being. Knowledge of organisational and psychological factors that enhance well-being in employees will be of great benefit to organisations that aim to create positivity in the workplace in order to avoid the negative consequences of work-related stress and a toxic work environment. Research approach/design and method: A cross-sectional, non-experimental design, applying convenience and snowball sampling, was used to recruit 159 South African employees who completed an online survey that assessed the constructs under investigation. Main findings: It was found that POS, PsyCap and well-being are positively correlated to one another. Moreover, hierarchical regression analyses revealed that PsyCap fully mediates the relationship between POS and well-being. Practical/managerial implications: These findings imply that organisations should be committed to target their employees’ PsyCap to enhance well-being in their workforce. Contribution/value-add: The findings show that it is not sufficient just to provide organisational support to enhance well-being. Organisations also need to acknowledge the important role of their employees’ PsyCap to ensure that they are well equipped to deal with challenges in the workplace while maintaining healthy levels of well-being. Introduction The discipline of psychology has focused to a great extent on the treatment of dysfunctional behaviour. As a consequence, the studies of organisational behaviour were also preoccupied with research on the negative aspects of employee behaviour, such as counter-productive behaviour, work stress and burnout (Youssef-Morgan & Luthans, 2015). The negative consequences of work-related stress not only have a negative impact on the well-being of employees but also on organisations. Poor employee well-being is related to low levels of organisational commitment (Matin, Kalali, & Anvari, 2012), more absenteeism (Olivares-Faúndez, Gil-Monte, Mena, JélvezWilke, & Figueiredo-Ferraz 2014), a decrease in productivity (Dewa, Loong, Bonato, Thanh & Jacobs, 2014), low job satisfaction and increased turnover intentions (Smoktunowicz et al., 2015). It should, therefore, be in the interest of organisations to create a work environment that contributes to employee well-being. Competition in global markets and stress in the workplace cannot be avoided, but how individuals deal with challenging demands can be influenced. Read online: Scan this QR code with your smart phone or mobile device to read online. The job demands-resources (JD-R) theory proposes that job resources and personal resources buffer the negative effects of job demands and that job demands increase the motivational effects of resources (Bakker & Demerouti, 2014). The conservation of resources (COR) theory suggests that resources accumulate and protect individuals from resource loss, which facilitates dealing with stress (Hobfoll, 1989). Based on these theories, the present study aims to investigate how POS, seen as a job resource, and the personal resource of psychological capital (PsyCap), a higher order construct consisting of the facets of self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism, interact in order to contribute to well-being in employees. http://www.sajip.co.za Open Access Page 2 of 11 Background to the study Positive psychology aims to investigate positive qualities and factors that contribute to growth and well-being (Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). This offers a valuable approach to target the issue of stress and its negative consequences in the workplace. Absenteeism, decreased productivity and low levels of organisational commitment as a result of low levels of health cause financial costs that can be avoided. The absence of ill-being, however, cannot be equated with the presence of well-being (Achor, 2011). It is, therefore, important to analyse which organisational and personal variables assist employees in dealing with challenges and stress to actively enhance well-being and maintain health. The positive constructs of POS and PsyCap are factors that might contribute to higher levels of well-being. POS refers to the perceptions of employees regarding the extent to which their organisation expresses appreciation and concern in terms of their wellbeing (Eisenberger, Huntington, Hutchison, & Sowa, 1986). PsyCap is referred to as a person’s psychological state of development. It is a higher order construct consisting of the facets of self-efficacy, hope, resilience and optimism (Luthans, Youssef-Morgan, & Avolio, 2015). Previous research showed that POS, as well as PsyCap, are positively related to well-being (Avey, Luthans, Smith, & Palmer, 2010; Caesens, Stinglhamber, & Ohana, 2016; Malinowski & Lim, 2015). It is assumed that job resources assist personal resources to develop and flourish (Xanthopoulou, Bakker, Demerouti, & Schaufeli, 2007). If POS is seen as a job resource and PsyCap as a personal resource, it can be argued that POS works in favour of PsyCap. There is evidence that POS and PsyCap are positively linked to each other (Azim & Dora, 2016; Sihag & Sarikwal, 2015). Based on these research findings, it is assumed that PsyCap acts as a mediator in the relationship between POS and well-being. Other studies could already show that PsyCap mediates the relationship between instructor support (Nielsen, Newman, Smyth, Hirst, & Heilemann, 2017) and well-being, as well as the relationship between social support (Li et al., 2014) and well-being. Ps (...truncated)