Examining the Impact of Positive Psychological Capital in Reducing Cynicism

Abstract

The main purpose of present study is to provide empirical evidence on role of positive psychological capital in reducing cynicism in banks. It has been proposed that when employees have high positive psychological capital including high hope, optimism, resilience and self-efficacy; their cynicism level reduces. It’s imperative that the employees must possess core values of Hope for a better future; Optimism to see the positive side of situations; Resilience to bounce back from adversity; & Self-efficacy for a feeling that “I can do it”. The present study utilizes questionnaire survey method. Standard questionnaires were used to collect responses from employees of service sector firms. The sample for the present study includes employees of select Service sector firms from Tricity (Chandigarh, Panchkula, and Mohali). In total, the study has been conducted on 250 respondents from top 5 select service sector firms namely HDFC, ICICI, Kotak Mahindra, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone. The findings of the study revealed that positive psychological capital is significantly but negatively related with cynicism. Also, hope, resilience, self-efficacy and optimism were found to be negative and significant. The results were supported by previous studies conducted by (Luthans et al., 2004), (Avolio & Luthans, 2006), (Avey et al., 2011), (Yin et al., 2018) and others. The present study suggests that service sector industry can reduce cynicism prevalent in its employees by influencing their positive psychological capital specifically by developing their hope, resilience, self-efficacy and optimism. The study also suggests that organizations must pay attention to positive psychological capital of individuals as a key source of enhancing their competitive advantage.

Keywords: Positive Psychological Capital, Hope, Resilience, Self-Efficacy, Optimism, Cynicism

View PDF