Anand, Shweta
(2022)
Psychological capital and the role of perceived organizational support in determining psychological wellbeing among the UK & the India Bank employees.
PhD thesis, University of Nottingham.
Abstract
Background: Over the last couple of decades, psychological wellbeing at work has increasingly received research attention, particularly in light of a rise in the prevalence of mental health issues in work sectors that present with high job demand levels. High levels of stress, anxiety and depression have been documented in the banking workforce too and have been associated with personal and organizational factors that can be detrimental to psychological wellbeing at work in various Western and Eastern countries. Within a positive psychology framework, the construct of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) has become pertinent to the study and reinforcement of mental wellbeing in the workplace in terms of its focus on the development of the four dimensions it comprises of, i.e., hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy. While PsyCap as a personal resource has been found to improve psychological wellbeing at work, Perceived Organizational Support (POS) has also been shown to contribute to wellbeing at work as well as to work satisfaction and performance; however, the relationship among PsyCap, POS and psychological wellbeing in the banking sector in either Western or Eastern countries has been under-researched.
Aim: This is the first study aimed to investigate the role of psychological wellbeing in the banking workforce in relation to a PsyCap framework that also considers the contributing role of POS in the relationship between PsyCap and psychological wellbeing. The study will also adopt a comparative approach, aiming to explore any cultural and/or gender differences in the nature of the relationship among PsyCap, psychological wellbeing and POS in bank employees at a Western, i.e.,
U.K. and an eastern, i.e., India, organization site.
Method: Following a systematic narrative review into the literature on PsyCap, studied along with aspects of psychological wellbeing and POS in the occupational sector (inclusive of students) that informed the aims of the current investigation, a mixed methods approach was adopted to explore the nature of the relationship among PsyCap, psychological wellbeing and POS in the U.K. and the India banking sector. In the quantitative part, validated self-report scales were distributed through an online survey or manually for completion, i.e. psychological capital (PsyCap; Luthans, Avolio, Avey, & Norman, 2007), perceived organizational support (POS; Eisenberger, 1986) and psychological wellbeing (DASS; Lovibond & Lovibond, 1995); the qualitative exploration employed semi-structured interviews with a subsample of those who participated in the quantitative part to enquire in more depth into factors associated with PsyCap, wellbeing and POS as well as the nature of stressors at work and the coping strategies adopted to deal with these stressors.
Results: Quantitative data findings showed PsyCap -and its dimensions to be negatively correlated with (poor) psychological wellbeing. POS was negatively correlated with (poor) psychological wellbeing and positively correlated to PsyCap & its dimensions. POS moderated the relationship between PsyCap and psychological wellbeing in the total combined sample of U.K and India based bank employees (n=475) and in the U.K. bank employee sample (n=230) per se but did not serve as a moderator in this relationship for the India bank employee sample (n=245). Further, significant gender differences were seen on the domains of hope and optimism of PsyCap as well as on POS and on the domains of stress and anxiety of psychological wellbeing, among the banking cohort at both sites.
Qualitatively, emerged themes derived from thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke,2006) were common and/or site-specific and reflected: the importance of POS (e.g., support from colleagues/managers, recognition of work and well-defined work parameters) in effective work performance; the link between PsyCap (e.g., optimism) and work performance; the link between POS (e.g., recognition of work) and PsyCap (e.g., self-efficacy) in effective work performance; the link between POS (e.g., provision of wellbeing programs) and work performance as well as psychological wellbeing; the link between stressors and various coping strategies with psychological wellbeing; and the importance of positive psychology approaches in stress reduction and improved work performance. Notably, managerial support and wellbeing program provision were found lacking at the India bank site.
Conclusion: The combined pattern of findings suggests that PsyCap can be a vital personal resource for improving wellbeing at work as well as work performance that can be further developed, along with take-up of organizational support. Future research needs to further investigate the synergistic contribution of PsyCap and POS as personal and organizational sources for improving psychological wellbeing at work while Western practice can potentially inform India bank sites on the implementation of beneficial organizational support sources at work.
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