Abstract: The knowledge, skills, and abilities of members of organizations create unique values, which lead to forming a competitive advantage of the organizations (Luthans et al., 2004). That is, securing and managing competent human resources determines the competitiveness of the organization. Given that, human resources are not different from capital in that both of them can be invested and recovered from an economic point of view (Bae, 2018). Taking this into account, it can be considered that positive psychological capital (PPC) is the addition of individual positive emotions to the concepts of traditional economic capital, human capital, and social capital (Luthans, 2002; Luthans & Youssef, 2004). According to extant studies, PPC is a variable that has a positive influence on outcome variables such as job satisfaction, organizational engagement, and job performance, and is significantly related to work engagement (WE) (Halbesleben, 2010; Lee, 2010; Yoon, 2021). Many studies showed a positive relationship between PPC and WE (Lee & Song, 2017; Park & Lee, 2022). However, several studies demonstrated that some of relationships between sub-factors (e.g., effect of hope on vigor and dedication and effect of resilience on dedication and absorption) were not significant (Cho et al., 2020; Jung, 2018; Park & Shin, 2020). Considering the inconsistent results of extant literature, this study aims to provide HRD implications by comprehensively examining the relationships between PPC or its sub-factors and WE or its sub-factors through the integrated literature review. The research questions of this research are as follows. • What are the relationships between PPC or its sub-factors and WE or its sub-factors? • What are the antecedent, consequent, moderating, and mediating variables associated in the relationship between PPC and WE?
In this study, relevant studies on PPC and WE were chosen through the systematic selection and review process (Callahan & Jamie, 2010; Torraco, 2005; 2016). As a result of searching for key terms through the Korean journal databases, a total of 214 studies were initially found and then 53 studies were finally selected for the in-depth literature review. First, the results of examining the relationship between PPC and its sub-factors and WE and its sub-factors are presented in Figure 1. Among 53 selected studies, 30 studies indicated the positive relationship between PPC and WE. One study confirmed the relationship between PPC and sub-factors of WE (i.e., vigor, dedication, absorption). With regard to the relationship between the sub-factor of PPC (i.e., self-efficacy, hope, optimism, resilience) and the WE, six out of 15 studies only demonstrated the statistically significant results. Also, regarding the studies examining the relationship between the sub-factors of PPC and the sub-factors of WE, four out of seven studies showed the significant results.
Figure 1. The Results of Extant Literature in the Relationship Between PPC and WE
In addition, relationships associated with effects of PPC and WE were presented in Figure 2. The relationships among PPC, WE, and related antecedent, consequent, mediating, and moderating variables were summarized and classified based on the results of Newman et al. (2014)’s research. According to the classification, the relevant variables explaining the relationship between PPC and WE could be divided into ‘job dimension’, ‘environment dimension’, ‘individual dimension’, ‘attitude’ and ‘behavior and performance’.
Figure 2. Relationships associated with effects of PPC on WE
The relevant implications are as follows. First, it is important to extend research on the variables related to PPC and WE. Most of existing studies have focused on the antecedent and consequent variables between PPC and WE, and future studies are strongly recommended to examine the mediating effect or the moderating effect within the relationship. Second, based on the results of the current literature review, organizations could consider antecedent variables of PPC and WE with leadership as a supportive learning culture and emotional intelligence. Also, organizational citizenship behavior, job re-creation, and job performance were expected the positive outcomes resulted from the PPC-WE relationship. In addition, while decision making cooperation, creativity, psychological ownership as mediators and career year as a moderator could be considered to specify the relationship.
