Psychological Capital (Psycap) Questionnaire

Measuring the new resource of Psychological Capital

Fred L. Luthans, Bruce J. Avolio, & James A. Avey
Gallup Leadership Institute

Intent * Example Items * References

Psychological capital (PCQ or PsyCap) is a positive state-like capacity that has undergone extensive theory-building and research. Psychological capital is defined as "an individual's positive psychological state of development and is characterized by:

  1. having confidence (self efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks;
  2. making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future;
  3. persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed; and
  4. when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resilience) to attain success."
    --Luthans, Youssef & Avolio, Psychological Capital (Oxford University Press, 2007),

Thus, the PsyCap consists of efficacy, optimism, hope and resilience and when combined has been shown to represent a second-order, core factor that predicts performance and satisfaction better than each of the four factors that make it up (Luthans, Avolio, et al., 2007).

Published research on PsyCap has found that it is related to multiple performance outcomes in the workplace, lower employee absenteeism, less employee cynicism and intentions to quit, and higher job satisfaction, commitment, and organizational citizenship behaviors. Research has also found PsyCap can be enhanced by a supportive work climate. In terms of being state-like, PsyCap has been developed by short training sessions in both classroom and field settings and electronically through the internet.

The PCQ-24, a measure of PsyCap, has undergone extensive psychometric analyses and support from samples representing service, manufacturing, education, high-tech, military and cross cultural sectors. Each of the four components in PsyCap are measured by six items. The resulting score represents an individual's level of positive PsyCap.

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Intent

We are making the PsyCap available for research use to grow the information database associated with it and to provide further evidence of validity and reliability. The PsyCap can only be used by researchers who have submitted the Agreement for Permission to use the PsyCap including the description of their research.

To obtain the PsyCap, we will ask you to

1.  agree to our research use conditions and

2.  complete an online abstract of your research project...

 

The Abstract of Research Project contains the following questions.

Click here when you are ready to complete these questions and receive the PsyCap

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Example Items & Scale for the Rater Form

Instructions

Below are statements that describe how you may think about the person listed above right now. Use the following scale to indicate your level of agreement or disagreement with each statement.

Strongly Disagree Somewhat Disagree Disagree Agree Somewhat Agree Strongly Agree
1 2 3 4 5 6

 

1. This person feels confident analyzing a long-term problem to find a solution. 1 2 3 4 5 6
7. If this person should find him/herself in a jam at work, he/she could think of many ways to get out of it. 1 2 3 4 5 6
13. When this person has a setback at work, he/she has trouble recovering from it, moving on. 1 2 3 4 5 6

Copyright © 2007 Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PsyCap) by Fred L. Luthans, Ph.D., Bruce J. Avolio, Ph.D., & James A. Avey, Ph.D.. All rights reserved in all medium. Distributed by Mind Garden, Inc.

Translations of this instrument are available. For a complete list of translations, along with more details on our translation policy, please visit our translations index page.

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References/Resources

Books:

Luthans, F., Avolio, B.J., & Youseff, C. (2007). Psychological Capital: Developing the Human Capital Edge. Oxford, England: Oxford University Press.

Avolio, B.J., & Luthans, F. (2006). High impact leader: Moments matter in authentic leadership development. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Articles:

Luthans, F., Avolio, B.J., Avey, J.B., & Norman, S.M. (2007).  Positive psychological capital:  Measurement and relationship with performance and satisfaction.  Personnel Psychology 60, 541-572.

Luthans, F., Norman, S.M., Avolio, B.J., & Avey, J.B. (In Press). The mediating role of psychological capital in the supportive organizational climate: Employee performance relationship. Journal of Organizational Behavior.

Luthans, F., Youssef, C., & Avolio, B.J. (2007).  Investing and developing positive organizational behavior. The emergence of psychological capital. In Cooper, C.L., & Nelson, D. (Eds.) Positive organizational behavior: Accentuating the positive at work(pp.9-24). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications

Luthans, F., & Youssef, (2007). Emerging positive organizational behavior. Journal of Management, 33, 321-349.

Luthans, F., Avey, J.B., Avolio, B.J., Norman, S., Combs, G.M. (2006).  Psychological capital development:  A micro intervention. Journal of Organizational Behavior. 27, 387-393.

Luthans, F., Avolio, B.J., Walumbwa, F.O., Li, W. (2005). The psychological capital of Chinese workers: Exploring the relationship with performance. Management and Organization Review, 1, 249-271.

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