Positive psychological capital: Beyond human and social capital

With the rising recognition of human resources as a competitive advantage in today’s global economy, human capital and, more recently, social capital are being touted in both theory, research, and practice. To date, however, positive psychological capital has been virtually ignored by both business academics and practitioners. “Who I am” is every bit as important as “what I know” and “who I know.” By eschewing a preoccupation with personal shortcomings and dysfunctions and focusing instead on personal strengths and good qualities, today’s leaders and their associates can develop confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience, thereby improving both individual and organizational performance

Positive psychological capital: Beyond human and social capital

With the rising recognition of human resources as a competitive advantage in today’s global economy, human capital and, more recently, social capital are being touted in both theory, research, and practice. To date, however, positive psychological capital has been virtually ignored by both business academics and practitioners. “Who I am” is every bit as important as “what I know” and “who I know.” By eschewing a preoccupation with personal shortcomings and dysfunctions and focusing instead on personal strengths and good qualities, today’s leaders and their associates can develop confidence, hope, optimism, and resilience, thereby improving both individual and organizational performance

Applying behavioral management in Eastern Europe

As posed in the title, the authors make a case for the use of behavioral management as a pragmatic and effective way to help East European managers improve employee performance. After providing the cultural and theoretical grounding for the use of a behavioral approach, the five-step O.B. Mod. model is presented. The successful use of O.B. Mod. in a Russian factory is given detailed attention and then the case is made for using this approach in all Eastern European organizations. Particular attention is given to the nature and power of contingently administered social reinforcers to increase employee performance at no cost. The authors conclude that this approach can help meet the competitive challenges Eastern European management faces now and in the future.

Impact of behavioral performance management in a Korean application

Purpose – The purpose of this study is to examine whether the use of money, social recognition, and feedback have a similar impact on employee performance in the context of a modern Korean broadband internet service firm. Design/methodology/approach – The study design was a quasi‐field experiment (with control group). First, the leaders of this Korean firm were trained in behavioral performance management. Following the steps of organisational behaviour modification (O.B. Mod.) they identified, measured, and analyzed critical performance behaviors and then intervened with the following reward incentives: money (n=38), social recognition and caring attention (n=41), and objective feedback only (n=31). The main dependent variable was overall performance, and this was also broken down into quantity and quality dimensions. Findings – As hypothesized, money and social recognition had a significant impact on performance outcomes, but feedback did not result in as strong a result. When compared to the control group (n=23), all three reward incentives showed significantly more improvement of overall performance. These findings also indicated, as hypothesized, that the impact of this behavioral management approach on Korean employees did not appear as robust as previous meta‐analytic research based on samples of US employees. Finally, although in the predicted direction, the hypothesis that social recognition would have a relatively stronger impact than money and feedback in this context was not statistically supported. Research limitations/implications – The major limitation concerns generalizability of the findings. However, the experimental design provides support for internal validity. Practical implications – The study results have practical implications for the value of behavioral performance management, but also that cultural contingencies should also be considered for successful application. Originality/value – This study contributes preliminary evidence for O.B. Mod to have applicability across cultures

Relationship Between Positive Psychological Capital and Creative Performance

Despite considerable attention to the creative process and its relationship with personal characteristics, there is no published study focused directly on the relationship between the recently recognized core construct of psychological capital (PsyCap) and creative performance. Drawing from a large (N = 899) and heterogeneous sample of working adults, this study investigates PsyCap and its components (i.e., efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience) as predictors of creative performance. Overall PsyCap predicted creative performance over and above each of the four PsyCap components. Theoretical and practical implications of these findings are considered. Copyright © 2010 ASAC. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd