Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study

Transcription

1 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study Fatih Çetin * - H. Nejat Basım ** Abstract: The main purpose of this study is to explore the structure of the organizational psychological capital and to examine the reliability and validity of the Turkish translation of a commonly used scale. The sample composed of 235 low and mid-level managers working in the public sector. The findings showed that the reliability coefficients for the sub dimensions of the scale varied between 0.67 and 0.85 and the test-retest reliability of the factors changed between 0.70 and Moreover, the results of the factor analysis confirmed the fit of the four-factor model measuring the optimism, hope, resilience and self efficacy dimensions. Ultimately, it was determined that the Turkish version of the Psychological Capital Scale is a reliable and valid scale. Key Words: Organizational psychological capital, positive organizational behavior, reliability, validity INTRODUCTION Today, the role of social capital concepts that define the relationship of human capital consisting of knowledge, skills, and accumulations of employees with organizational network structures and interpersonal relations is increasingly getting important. Another concept that has begun to be the subject of researches in terms of valuing and directing human resources in line with these developments, is organizational psychological capital (Wright, 2003; Luthans, 2002b; Nelson - Cooper, 2007; Luthans et al., 2006). The concept of organizational psychological capital has emerged from the theories and researches within the field of positive psychology that are mostly applied in the organizational field. The positive organizational behavior, as a concept related to eschewing a preoccupation with personal shortcom- * Dr., Turkish Military Academy, Defense Sciences Institute. ** Assoc. Prof, Başkent University, Faculty of Economics and Administrative Sciences. TODAİE s Review of Public Administration, Volume 6 No1 March 2012, p

2 160 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration ings and dysfunctions, and focusing instead on personal strengths and good qualities (Seligman - Csikszentmihalyi, 2000), focuses on a new approach for the development and management of human resources. This new approach investigates positively directed strengths and psychological capacity of human resources that can be measured, developed, and managed in improving performance and achieving organizational success (Turner et al., 2002). In this respect, organizational psychological capital, which is a psychological resource that may fuel growth and performance at the individual level, and which may provide leverage, return on investment, and competitive advantage through improved employee performance similar to human and social capital at the organizational level, appears as a power that should be developed and managed for public and private sector organization, or nongovernmental organizations, in brief, for any form of organizational structure (Luthans et al., 2007; Wright, 2003). Considering the subject in respect of the discipline of public administration; in public administration, where the political point of view prevails, another point of view focuses on organizational and administrative issues. It is reported that the studies conducted in Turkey approach to public administration mostly from legal, behavioral, and structural perspectives, and that particularly the human relations viewpoint has significant effects in this process (Güler, 1994; Özen, 2003). In this framework, the concept of organizational psychological capital as a subject of organizational behavior appears as a subelement of narrow organizational management approach of public administration. In this context, measuring psychological capital of public organizations may not only provide information that might contribute to the decisions to be made on various managerial practices, but may also allow for the management of a power capable of increasing individual and organizational efficiency and performance. This study aims to theoretically describe and discuss the structure of psychological capital structure in line with its importance emphasized above, and then to conduct reliability and

3 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 161 validity analyses of a scale, which is commonly used in the literature due to its being the one that best explains organizational psychological capital, and to bring the said scale in national literature. Organizational Psychological Capital The roots of organizational psychological capital extend back to the concept of economic capital referring to the resources withdrawn from consumption that are invested for future anticipated returns (Goldsmith et al., 1998). On the other hand, psychological capital, unlike human capital s question what you know, social capital s question who you know and financial capital s question what you have?, is a factor that basically corresponds to the questions of Who you are? and Who you are becoming in terms of positive development? (Avolio - Luthans, 2006; Luthans et al., 2004). The psychological capital factor refers to a psychological state beyond intellectual capital achieving competitive advantage, at the center of which positivity stands (Luthans et al., 2004). This psychological state does not show continuity under every condition and situation (positive affectivity, self-discipline, self-esteem, core self-avaluations, etc.); instead, it changes and acquires a different character depending on conditions. All these situational characteristics in the organizational context as a whole are called organizational psychological capital (Luthans - Youssef, 2004). In this context, organizational psychological capital is defined as a set of characteristics, where there is no constant structure like personality or the core self-evaluations, and which, in return, can change and develop by experience and training (Luthans - Youssef, 2007). Some studies reveal that organizational psychological capital can be developed via various short practices during a group training (Luthans et al., 2006). In this respect, psychological capital has an improvable nature particularly towards the improvement and guidance of individual and organizational performance (Luthans, 2002a; 2002b; Luthans - Youssef, 2007).

4 162 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration Various studies conducted on the qualities of the structure of psychological capital have focused on factors such as work engagement (Schaufeli - Bakker, 2004), psychological health (Wright - Cropanzano, 2004), psychological ownership (Avey et al., 2009), intelligence, courage and forgiveness (Luthans, et al., 2007b). In addition, it is maintained that the qualities that best explain the structure of psychological capital are hope, resilience, optimism and self-efficacy (Luthans, 2002a; Luthans - Youssef, 2004; Luthans - Youssef, 2007). Hope Although hope was a concept that was mostly used by humanistic psychology in the past, its use in the field of positive psychology has begun with Snyder s (2000) study. Hope is a motivational state that encompasses the ability to set valued goals (willpower) and the conviction that one can overcome obstacles to achieve those goals (way power). Snyder (2000), in his work, describes the concept of hope as a positive motivational state that is based on an interactively derived sense of successful (1) agency (goal-directed energy) and (2) pathways (planning to meet goals). In this respect, hope involves not only wanting as a goal-directed energy, but also pathway as a means of meeting goals. In this context, agency or willpower as powers that drive the individual in achieving a goal constitute an important dimension of the concept of hope in terms of positive organizational behavior. Though willpower is necessary in meeting the goals successfully, it is also of critical importance in overcoming the difficulties faced on the way to goals and in being motivated for finding alternative ways of exit. The other component of the concept of hope is thinking of alternative pathways. The center of this sort of thinking is relevant with the search for alternative ways when faced with obstacles. Snyder (2000) reports that individuals with high level of hopeful thought develop, with self-confidence, a determined plan of action, thereby increasing their probability of success. It is also found that high-hope individuals proactively develop al-

5 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 163 ternative plans to be used in case of the failure of the priority plan, (Snyder et al., 1996; Snyder, 2002). The studies found that high-hope individuals were more motivated and self-confident with the ability to develop routes to their goals, possessing the requisite motivation to use those pathways in the goal pursuit process, thus, displaying higher performance (Luthans - Jensen, 2002; Peterson - Luthans, 2003). Besides, Shorey et al. (2003) argue that effective leaders, who are hopeful for the future, create an atmosphere of hope and that such leaders are more capable of thinking of pathways (agency thinking), finding ways of solution and setting goals. It was found in another study that hope was a robust predictor of work-unit performance, retention, and subordinate job satisfaction (Peterson -Luthans, 2003). In this respect, hope is considered a factor that has valuable contributions to organizational psychological capital and that positively affects the employee performance. Optimism Optimism is seen as a goal-focused structure that appears when an outcome has a high value (Scheier - Carver, 1985). Tiger (1971: 18) defines optimism as a mood or attitude associated with an expectation about the social or material future-one which the evaluator regards as socially desirable, to his [or her] advantage, or for his [or her] pleasure. Though at first sight, the concept of optimism seems to have similar meanings with the concepts such as hope and trust, the studies have revealed that it is a different concept both in theoretical and empirical terms (Bryant - Cvengros, 2004; Magaletta - Oliver, 1999). Optimism is defined based on individuals attributional, explanatory styles (Carver - Scheier, 2001; Seligman - Csikszentmihalyi, 2000). While optimistic individuals attribute negative events to external factors (it is not my fault), temporary (what happened was unlucky) and specific (only this event), pessimistic individuals, quite the reverse, sees negative events as internal (it is my fault), permanent (it happens all the time) and general (every event) (Peterson, 2000; Seligman, 1998).

6 164 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration The studies on optimism found, unlike other dimensions of psychological capital, a direct correlation between job performance and optimism, (Schulman, 1999; Seligman, 1998). In this context, realistic optimistic individuals were found to be more committed, thereby displaying higher performance (Luthans - Youssef, 2004). This finding points out that individuals use many attributive, explanatory styles in order to adapt to the existing conditions. Hence, optimistic individuals do not consider obstacles as failure, but instead improvable opportunities and challenges for success. Seligman (1998), in his study, found that the optimistic sales people sold more, i.e. showed better performance. In addition, the optimistic people worked harder in work and school, and were athletically better (Carver - Scheier, 2001; Peterson, 2000). In this respect, optimism stands out as a factor that contributes to the organization psychological capital. Self-efficacy Self-efficacy is defined as an individual's belief (or confidence) about his or her abilities to mobilize motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to successfully execute a specific task within a given context (Stajkovic - Luthans, 1998). Before the courses of action are chosen and initiated, employees assess, process, and gather their knowledge of their skills and abilities. Those, who consider themselves highly efficient, prefer challenging tasks, and maintain their belief even in the face of setbacks. The concept of self-efficacy, which is important in terms of positive organizational behavior, is closely correlated particularly with job performance (Stajkovic - Luthans, 1998), and appears as continuously improvable trait by means of various techniques such as social persuasion, positive feedback, psychological and physiological stimulation, indirect learning and social learning modeling (Bandura, 1997). In this context, selfefficacy is of critical importance due to its being improvable within the structure of psychological capital.

7 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 165 Resilience Resilience is seen as the individual s ability to overcome many negative situations (setbacks, uncertainty, and to become successful (Luthans et al., 2006). In the context of positive organizational behavior, it is the positive psychological capacity to rebound, to bounce back from adversity, uncertainty, conflict, failure, or even positive change, progress and increased responsibility (Luthans, 2002a: 702). Positive psychologists try to understand which factor plays an effective role in the process of resilience. For example, according to Luthar et al. (2000), resilience refers to a dynamic process encompassing positive adaptation within the context of significant adversity (Masten - Reed, 2002). Garmezy et al. (1984) lays emphasis on the importance of a strong relationship with at least one supportive person. Coutu (2002: 48) lists three characteristics of resilience as an acceptance of reality as is, a deep belief, often buttressed by strongly held values, that life is meaningful; and an uncanny ability to improvise. Moreover Maddi (2002) proposes that hardiness is the key to resilience under stress. Some studies conducted on resilience in the organizational environment investigated the relationship between resilience and performance (Coutu, 2002; Sutcliffe - Vogus, 2003; Youssef - Luthans, 2005), and found a direct relationship between them. Thus, it is evident that in rapidly changing business world, the performance of resilient individuals may increase to their being creative, adaptive to innovations, and more competitive against negativities and setbacks. Though hope, resilience, optimism, and self-efficacy described above are individual and decomposable concepts, they, as a composite theoretical and measurable structure, also point to organizational psychological capital. This structure denotes positive appraisal of circumstances and probability for success based on motivated effort and perseverance (Luthans et al., 2007).

8 166 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration Organizational psychological capital that might have significant contributions to public and private organizations as well as to other organizations encourages individual development and performance; it provides return on investment, and competitive advantage through improved employee performance at organizational level. In this context, psychological capital, which has brought a new approach to the organizational management, can be regarded as a central structure thanks to which organizations might improve and invest in their labor force to increase their performance and to catch competitive advantage. This study has aimed to elaborate the structure of organizational psychological capital, by which a new approach has been adopted in featuring and developing personal strengths and good qualities of employees, and thus, which brings a new understanding to various organizational practices. In addition, no study was found in national structure concerning this new concept, whose importance has attempted to be presented above, or its measurement. As a remedy to this deficiency in national literature, the adaptation study of a scale used in measuring this structure and its reliability and validity analyses are presented in the subsequent sections. Methods Participants The adaptation study was conducted through the data obtained from public administrators as one of the groups having the qualities suitable for the theoretical context. A random sampling method and the method of questionnaire were used in the study. The respondents of the survey were composed of 235 lower and middle level managers working in the positions of section supervisor, head of section and branch managers in some ministries and institutions affiliated to ministries in Ankara. Ninety-seven (41.2%) of respondents were female and 138(58.7%) were male. The respondents were between 26 and 48 years of age (Mean=37.27, SD=7.04).

9 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 167 Translation Study The five-stage technique suggested by Brislen et al. (1973) was used in the translation of the Psychological Capital Scale (Luthans et al., 2007) used in into Turkish. These stages involve initial translation, the evaluation of initial translation, back-translation, the evaluation of back-translation and specialist opinion. Firstly, the Psychological Capital Scale was translated by two English Language and Literature lecturers. The initial translation was evaluated by six different specialists of the field. The translation was evaluated in terms of the comprehensibility and cultural relevance and appropriateness of questions were reviewed. The Turkish version of the scale obtained following the evaluation was re-translated into English by two different English Language and Literature lecturers. The translated version of the scale was compared with the original scale, and presented to the opinion of two specialists. The final version of the scale was acquired following the specialist evaluation, and was decided to be used in the study. The Psychological Capital Scale The Psychological Capital Scale developed by Luthans et al (2007) contains the sub-dimension of optimism, resilience, hope, and self-efficacy. The scale consists of total 24 items, and the optimism dimension is measured by items 1*, 9, 11*, 14, 18, 19; the resilience dimension by items 5, 7, 8*, 10, 13, 22; the hope dimension by items 2, 6, 12, 17, 20, 24; the self-efficacy dimension by items 3, 4, 15, 16, 21, 23 (*reverse scored items). The scale, where 6-point Likert-type scale was used, contains statements like If I should find myself in a jam, I could think of ways to get out of it, I feel I can handle many things at a time at this job and I always look on the bright side of things regarding my job (the scale is presented in the annex). High scores indicate high level of optimism, resilience, hope and self-efficacy for each dimension. Confirmatory factor analysis was conducted in two separate samples consisting of employees and students, respectively, for the validity of the scale. The four-dimension structure was

10 168 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration found to be best matching the scale's actual internal structure for both samples (first sample= χ2/df=1.80; RMSEA=0.046; CFI=0.93 and second sample = χ2/df=1.91; RMSEA=0.048; CFI=0.92). In addition, Cronbach s Alpha values obtained from four different samples present adequate evidence for the reliability of the scale for the sub-dimensions of hope (0,72, 0,75, 0,80, 0,76), resilience (0,71, 0,71, 0,66, 0,72), self-efficacy (0,75, 0,84, 0,85, 0,75), optimism (0,74, 0,69, 0,76, 0,79) and the scale as a whole (0,88, 0,89, 0,89, 0,89) (Luthans et al., 2007). Statistical Analysis SPSS 16.0 and Amos 16.0 software packages were employed in evaluating the data obtained from the survey. The time interval for test-retest reliability of the scale was 24 days. Then, Pearson correlation coefficient and Cronbach s Alpha coefficient for internal consistency of the scale were calculated. Confirmatory factor analysis was administered for ensuring structural validity of the scale. Findings Descriptive Findings on Respondents The means of the scale scores of the participants consisting of administrators from some ministries and affiliated institutions are presented in Table 1. It is seen that the scores of administrators were above the mean (Mean=3)

11 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 169 Table 1. Descriptive Statistics on Respondents N Min. Max. Mean. SD Optimism 235 1,75 6,00 4,44,67 Resilience 235 2,00 6,00 4,52,68 Hope 235 2,00 6,00 4,61,66 Self-efficacy 235 2,50 6,00 4,75,64 This finding reveals that administrators were generally more optimistic and resilient. Besides, their level of hope was high and they were confident of their self-efficacy. Findings on the Reliability of the Scale Internal Consistency of the Scale: Cronbach s Alpha values and Internal Consistency of the scale and item-total correlation coefficients of sub-dimensions were calculated in order to find the internal consistency of the scale. The item-total correlation coefficients varied between 0.03 and 0.66 (Table. 2). Accordingly, it is observed that the values of items 1, 8 and 11 remained below the acceptable limit of 0.20 (Büyüköztürk, 2007). Cronbach s Alpha coefficients of the sub-dimensions of the scale were found as 0.67 for optimism, 0.81 for hope, 0.68 for psychological resilience, and 0.85 for self-efficacy. Besides, total Cronbach s Alpha coefficient of the scale was found to be 0.91.

12 170 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration Table 2. Item-Total Correlations of the Scale Adjusted Item-Total Correlations (Alpha=0,91) The Item Deleted Alpha of the Scale PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS PS Test-Retest Reliability: For the test-retest reliability of the Psychological Capital Scale, the scale was administered to the group consisting of 235 participants in 24-day interval. The results of Pearson correlation coefficients of the sub-dimensions of the scale between two tests were as follows: optimism: 0.70 (p<0.01), hope: 0.73 (p<0.01), psychological resilience: 0.77 (p<0.01), and self-efficacy: 0.72 (p<0.01).

13 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 171 Findings on the Reliability of the Scale Structural Validity: In order to test the structural validity of the scale, confirmatory factor analysis was conducted by using Amos 16.0 software packages. As a four-factor structure was obtained in the original scale (Luthans et al., 2007) at the end of the factor analysis conducted on two different samples, and thus, a structure, whose factors are pre-known, was tested in this study, the maximum likelihood technique was employed in the factor analysis. At the end of confirmatory factor analysis, the ratio of chi-square statistics of the scale to degrees of freedom was found (χ2/df) 2.07 (χ2=509.4, df=246); root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA) as 0.058; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) value as 0.88 and Comparative Fit Index (CFI) value as Particularly Comparative Fit Index (CFI) and Tucker- Lewis Index (TLI) values of 0.90 or above denotes goodness-offit of a model (Şimşek, 2007). The results obtained indicated that the four-factor structure of the scale, at this stage, failed to meet required matching values. As stated before, as a structure, whose factors are known, is tested in the model constructed, some items have to be excluded from the scale until matching values are reached (Şimşek, 2007). To this end, items 1, 8 and 11 were excluded from the scale in view of item total statistics and factor loadings of the items. Hence, the 21- item scale was re-subjected to confirmatory factor analysis. The analysis produced the following results: ratio of chi-square statistics of the scale to degrees of freedom: (χ2/df) 2.18 (χ2=399.9 df=183); root mean square error of approximation (RMSEA): 0.057; Tucker-Lewis Index (TLI) value: 0.91 and Comparative Fit Index (CFI) value: 0.90.

14 172 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration Table 3. Psychological Capital Scale 21-Item Factor e1 e2 o3.3 o3.4,73,69 e3 e4 o3.15 o3.16,71,72,64 Self- efficacy e5 o3.21,71 e6 o3.23,73 e7 o3.5,70 e8 e9 o3.7 o3.10,51,50 Resilience,77 e10 o3.13,66,72 e11 e12 o3.22 o3.2,76,61,48 e13 o3.6,71 e14 e15 o3.12 o3.17,71,67,63 Hope,58 e16 e17 o3.20 o3.24,70,71 e18 o3.9,62 e19 o3.14,52 e20 o3.18,62,45 Optimism e21 o3.19

15 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 173 These results indicated that the scale, in its final version, reached adequate matching values. The model constructed in confirmatory factor analysis is presented in Table 3. In the table, four-factor structure of the scale was confirmed, and factor loadings of the items varied between 0.45 and DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION This study has focused on the explanation of organizational psychological capital, which is a new concept in the literature, and in order to bring a scale used in measuring this structure in national literature, its reliability and validity analyses were conducted. The analyses found that the reliability and validity values of the psychological capital scale were at acceptable levels. The analysis of descriptive statistics of the organizational psychological capital scale pertaining to the participants indicated that organizational psychological capital of the participant administrators was high in general. The administrators high level of hope and optimism denotes that they are more motivated, they feel confident in executing their tasks, and that they seek pathways when they confront setbacks in meeting their goals, thereby displaying higher performance. In addition, the administrators high level of psychological resilience and self-efficacy point out that they are self-efficient in achieving certain tasks. They choose tasks that are more challenging with increased self-confidence, and they become successful by behaving more competitive in the face of negativities and setbacks. Internal consistency and test-retest methods were employed to determine the reliability of psychological capital scale. Cronbach s Alpha values for internal consistency of the subdimensions of the scale were found within the acceptable limits. The total Cronbach s Alpha of the scale was found to be at high levels. The values obtained in this study were consistent with the values of the scale achieved in the previous studies (Luthans et al., 2007). Analyzing total score correlation coefficients of the scale, factor loadings of items except for three were high. It can be said that the internal consistency of the fi-

16 174 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration nal version of scale was ensured. Test-retest reliability of the scale was ensured through the data gathered from the questionnaire applied to the participants in three week-interval. The findings on reliability obtained via the analysis pointed to satisfactory level of the reliability of the scale. The structural validity of the scale was tested for the validation of the scale. For the purpose of structural validity, the fourfactor structure of the scale was verified by the maximum likelihood technique. Confirmatory factor analyses indicated that matching indices of four-factor structure were lower than the acceptable values. Since a structure, whose factors are known, is tested, items 1, 8 and 11 were excluded from the scale in view of item total statistics and low factor loadings. When items 1, 8 and 11 are analyzed, it is seen that items 1 and 11 were within the dimension of optimism, while item fell into scope of the dimension of resilience. Non-contribution of these items to the dimensions of optimism and resilience is attributed to the similarities of particularly the dimensions of hope and optimism with the dimensions of self-efficacy and resilience and the role of cultural differences in this process. Finally, the 21-item scale was re-subjected to confirmatory factor analysis, and thus, adequate matching values were obtained. Hence, the four-factor structure that overlapped with the original scale and that contained the dimensions of optimism, resilience, hope and self-efficacy was verified. In conclusion, a scale, whose reliability and validity are acknowledged, was translated into Turkish in order to measure organizational psychological capital, which is a psychological resource that may fuel growth and performance at the individual level, and which may provide leverage, return on investment, and competitive advantage through improved employee performance. The employment of this scale may not only allow for uncovering psychological capital structures of public organizations in the discipline of public administration, where the human relations viewpoint is increasingly becoming prevalent, but may also facilitate acquiring and managing information that might contribute to the increase in individual and organiza-

17 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 175 tional productivity and performance as well as to the administrative decision-making. It is believed that the final version of the questionnaire provided in the annex might contribute to the future studies to be conducted in other organizational fields. The reliability and validity results for the organizational psychological capital scale have some limitations in the context of the participants. The application of the scale to the samples different in qualitative and quantitative terms assumes importance for achieving stronger and generalizable findings in terms of reliability and validity. REFERENCES Avey, James B. - Avolio, Bruce J.Crossley, Craig D. - Luthans, Fred (2009), Psychological Ownership: Theoretical Extensions, Measurement and Relation to Work Outcomes, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol.30, p Avolio, Bruce J. - Luthans, Fred (2006), The High Impact Leader: Moments Matter in Accelerating Authentic Leadership Development, New York: McGraw-Hill. Bandura, Albert (1997), Self-efficacy: the Exercise of Control, New York: W.H. Freeman. Brislin, Richard W. Lonner Walter J. - Thorndike Robert M, (1973), Cross-Cultural Research Methods, New York, John Wiley Sons Pub. Bryant, Fred B. - Cvengros, Jamie A. (2004), Distinguishing Hope and Optimism, Journal of Socialand Clinical Psychology, Vol. 23, p Büyüköztürk, Şener (2007), Sosyal Bilimler Đçin Veri Analizi El Kitabı, Ankara: Pegem A Yayıncılık. Carver, Charles S. - Scheier, Michael F. (2001), Optimism, Pessimism, and Self-regulation, Chang, Edward C. (Ed.), Optimism and Pessimism: Implications fortheory, Research, and Practice, Washington, DC: American Psychological Association, p Coutu, DianeL. (2002), How Resilience Works, Harvard Business Review, C. 80, Vol. 5, p Garmezy, Norman - Masten, Ann S. - Tellegen, Auke (1984), The Study of Stress and Competence in Children: A Building Block for

18 176 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration Developmental Psychopathology, Child Development, C. 55, Vol. 1, p Goldsmith, Arthur -Darity, William - Veum, Jonathan (1998), Race, Cognitive Skills, Psychological Capital and Wages, The Review of Black Political Economy, Vol. 26, No: 2, p Güler, Birgül (1994), Nesnesini Arayan Disiplin: Kamu Yönetimi, Amme Đdaresi Dergisi, C. 27, Sayı 4, s Luthans, Fred (2002a), The Need for and Meaning of Positive Organizational Behavior, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 23, p Luthans, Fred (2002b), Positive Organizational Behavior: Developing and Managing Psychological Strengths, Academy of Management Executive, Vol. 16, No: 1, p Luthans, Fred - Jensen, Susan M. (2002), Hope: A New Positive Strength for Human Resource Development, Human Resource Development Review, Vol. 1, p Luthans, Fred - Luthans, Kyle W. - Luthans, Brett C. (2004), Positive Psychological Capital: Beyond Human and Social Capital, Business Horizons, Vol. 47, No 1, p Luthans, Fred - Youssef, Caroline M. (2004), Human, Social and now Positive Psychological Capital Management: Investing in People for Competitive Advantage, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 33, p Luthans, Fred - Avey, James B. - Avolio, Bruce J., Norman, Steven M. -Combs, Gwendolyn M. (2006), Psychological Capital Development: Toward a Micro-intervention, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 27,p Luthans, Fred - Avolio, Bruce J. - Avey, James B. - Norman, Steven M. (2007a), Positive Psychological Capital: Measurement and Relationship with Performance and Satisfaction, Personnel Psychology, Vol. 60, p Luthans, Fred - Youssef, Caroline M. - Avolio, Bruce J. (2007b), Psychological Capital: Developing the Human Competitive Edge, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press. Luthans, Fred - Youssef, Caroline M. (2007), Emerging Positive Organizational Behavior, Journal of Management, Vol. 33, p

19 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 177 Luthar, Suniya S. - Cichetti, Dante - Becker, Bronwyn (2000), The Construct of Resilience: A Critical Evaluation and Guidelines for Future Work, Child Development, Vol. 71, p Maddi, Salvatore R. (2002), The Story of Hardiness: Twenty Years of Theorizing, Research, and Practice, Consulting Psychology Journal, Vol. 54, p Magaletta, Philip R. - Oliver, James M. (1999), The Hope Construct, Will, and Ways: Their Relations with Efficacy, Optimism, and General Well-being, Journal of Clinical Psychology, Vol. 55, No: 5, p Masten, AnnS. -Reed, Marie-Gabrielle J. (2002), Resilience in Development, Snyder, C. Rick- Lopez, Shane J. (Ed.), The Handbook of Positive Psychology, New York: Oxford University Pres, p Nelson, Debra - Cooper, Cary L. (2007), Positive Organizational Behavior: Accentuating the Positive at Work, Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. Özen, Şükrü (2003), Kamu Yönetimi Yazınımız ve Örgütler-Yönetim Çalışma Alanı: Tehlikeli Đlişkiler?, B. Aykaç, Ş. Durgun ve H. Yayman (Der) Türkiye'de Kamu Yönetimi, Ankara: Yargı Yayınevi, s Peterson, Christopher (2000), The Future of Optimism, American Psychologist, Vol. 55, p Peterson, Suzanne - Luthans, Fred (2003), The Positive Impact and Development of Hopeful Leaders, Leadership and Organization Development Journal, Vol. 24, No: 1, p Schaufeli, Wilmar B. - Bakker, Arnold B. (2004), Job Demands, Job Resources and Their Relationship with Burnout and Engagement: A Multi-sample Study, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 25, p Scheler, Michael F. - Carver, Charles S. (1985), Optimism, Coping, and Health: Assessment and Implications of Generalized Outcome Expectancies, Health Psychology, Vol. 4, p Schulman, Peter (1999), Applying Learned Optimism to Increase Sales Productivity, Journal of Personal Selling and Sales Management, Vol. 19, p Seligman, Martin E. P. (1998), Learned Optimism, New York: Pocket Books. Seligman, Martin E. P. - Csikszentmihalyi, Mihaly (2000), Positive Psychology, American Psychologist, Vol. 55, p

20 178 TODAĐE s Review of Public Administration Shorey, Hal S. - Snyder, C. Rick - Rand, Kewin L. - Hockemeyer, Jill R. - Feldman, David B. (2003), Somewhere Over the Rainbow: Hope Theory Weathersits First Decade, Psychological Inquiry, Vol.13, p Snyder, C. Rick - Sympson, Susie C. - Ybasco, Florence C. - Borders, Tyrone F. - Babyak, Michael A. - Higgins, Raymond L. (1996), Development and Validation of the State Hope Scale, Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, Vol. 70, No: 2, p Snyder, C. Rick (2000), Handbook of Hope, San Diego: Academic Press. Snyder, C. Rick (2002), Hope Theory: Rainbows in the Mind, Psychological Inquiry, Vol. 13, p Stajkovic, Alexander D. - Luthans, Fred (1998), Self-efficacy and work-related performance: A meta-analysis, Psychological Bulletin, Vol. 124, p Sutcliffe, Kathleen M. - Vogus, Timothy J. (2003), Organizing for Resilience, Cameron, Kim - Dutton, Jane E. - Quinn, Robert E. (Ed.), Positive Organizational Scholarship, San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, p Şimşek, Ömer F. (2007), Yapısal Eşitlik Modellemesine Giriş, Ankara: Ekinoks Yayınları. Tiger, Lionel (1971), Optimism: The Biology of Hope, New York: Simon -Schuster. Turner, Nick - Barling, Julian - Zaharatos, Anthea (2002), Positive Psychology at Work, C. RirkSnyder - Lopez, Shane(Ed.), Handbook of positive psychology, Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, p Wright, Thomas A. (2003), Positive Organizational Behavior. An Idea Whose Time has Truly Come, Journal of Organizational Behavior, Vol. 24, p Wright, Thomas A. - Cropanzano, Russell (2004), The Role of Psychological Well-being in Job Performance, Organizational Dynamics, Vol. 33, p Youssef, Caroline M. - Luthans, Fred (2005), Resiliency Development of Organizations, Leaders and Employees: Multi-level Theory Building for Sustained Performance, Gardner, William L. - Avolio, Bruce J. - Walumbwa, Fred O. (Ed.), Authentic Leadership Theory and Practice Oxford, UK: Elsevier, p

21 Organizational Psychological Capital: A Scale Adaptation Study 179 Psychological Capital Scale Below are statements about you with which you may agree or disagree. Using the following scales, please indicate your level of agreement or disagreement. 1 In this job, things never work out the way I want them to At this time, I am meeting the goals that I have set for myself I feel confident presenting information to a group of colleagues I feel confident helping to set targets/goals in my work area I can get through difficult times at work because I've experienced difficulty before There are lots of ways around any problem I usually take stressful things at work in stride When I have a setback at work, I have trouble recovering from it and moving on When things are uncertain for me at work I usually expect the best I can be "on my own" so to speak at work if I have to If something can go wrong for me work-wise it will If I should find myself in a jam, I could think of ways to get out of it I feel I can handle many things at a time at this job I always look on the bright side of things regarding my job I feel confident contributing to discussions about the company's strategy I feel confident analyzing a long-term problem to find a solution Right now, I see myself as being pretty successful at work I m always optimistic about my future I approach this job as if "every cloud has a silver lining At the present time, I am energetically pursuing my work goals I feel confident contributing to discussions about the company's strategy I usually manage difficulties one way or another at work I feel confident contacting people outside the company (e.g., suppliers, customers) to discuss problems. 24 I can think of many ways to reach my current work goals