International Journal of Contemporary Hospitality Management

The impact of employees’ positive psychological capital on job satisfaction and

organizational citizenship behaviors in the hotel
Hyo Sun Jung Hye Hyun Yoon
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Hyo Sun Jung Hye Hyun Yoon , (2015),"The impact of employees’ positive psychological capital
on job satisfaction and organizational citizenship behaviors in the hotel", International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality Management, Vol. 27 Iss 6 pp. 1135 - 1156
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The impact of employees’ Employees’

positive
positive psychological capital on psychological
capital
job satisfaction and
organizational citizenship 1135
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behaviors in the hotel Received 13 January 2014

Revised 30 March 2014
1 July 2014
Hyo Sun Jung and Hye Hyun Yoon 4 September 2014
Accepted 28 September 2014
Department of Culinary and Service Management,
College of Hotel and Tourism Management, Kyung Hee University,
Seoul, Republic of Korea

Abstract
Purpose – This paper aims to explain the relationships among employees’ positive psychological
capital (PPC) (hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism), job satisfaction (JS) and organizational
citizenship behaviors (OCBs) in deluxe hotels. This study also seeks to analyze the effect of JS on the
employees’ OCBs. In an era of global competition when the speed of change is increasing, companies’
competitiveness depends on how well they adapt. To respond flexibly to changes, knowing how to use
intangible resources is crucial.
Design/methodology/approach – This study was administered to 324 deluxe hotel employees
using a self-administered questionnaire. Following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach,
confirmatory factor analysis was first undertaken to assess the overall fit of the three-factor model,
structural equation model which was used to examine the hypothesized relationships between the
constructs.
Findings – The findings showed that employees’ hope and optimism among PPC have a significant
effect on their JS; their hope and resilience affect OCBs. Employees’ satisfaction was positively
associated with their OCBs.
Practical implications – It was verified that PPC was an important performance factor that could
improve hotel employees’ attitudes and organization’s effectiveness. Employees with high PPC were
high in satisfaction with job, positively helped coworkers or superiors, and had high possibility of doing
devotional action for organization. Accordingly, there will be a need of forming favorable working
atmosphere so that employees can perform job with positive psychology, and of seeking diverse
support programs such as counseling program or leisure activity.
Originality/value – Most previous studies have examined PPC mainly in general industries;
however, this study focused on hotels as a hospitality industry. This study will have significance as the
initial research of having considered that the hotel employees’ PPC formation has significant influence
upon the JS and OCBs. It is predicted that positive psychology of hotel employees in a job situation leads
to various efforts to develop their organization and their own development, thereby creating
performance and strengthening management power. International Journal of
Contemporary Hospitality
Keywords Organizational behavior, Employee attitudes, Hospitality industry, Job satisfaction, Management
Intangible resources, Positive psychological capital, Organizational citizenship behaviors, Vol. 27 No. 6, 2015
pp. 1135-1156
Deluxe hotel © Emerald Group Publishing Limited
0959-6119
Paper type Research paper DOI 10.1108/IJCHM-01-2014-0019
 IJCHM 1. Introduction
27,6 How can an organization or individual take a dominant position in fierce competition?
One way is through positive psychological capital (PPC). PPC starts from acceptance of
the truth that the potential of an organization’s human resources may not be realized to
the maximal extent (Avolio, 2005). Employees’ PPC involves a disposition that
motivates individuals toward work achievement; it is not a firm characteristic like a
1136 personality trait, but it is an important element through which performance can be
heightened when it is measured and developed (Luthans, 2002). Employees’
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psychological capabilities play a meaningful role in terms of motivation in that they can
be developed as a measure for performance improvement (Oh and Tak, 2012). Also, PPC
is an important variable available to contribute to the whole workplace outcome and an
individual’s positive behavior within the organization (Newman et al., 2014). Therefore,
organizations can ensure that employees continue to improve their organizational
performance by maintaining positive psychological conditions.
Affective event theory emphasizes that emotional conditions experienced in a
working situation play a key role in employees’ emotional behaviors and attitudes
(Weiss and Cropanzano, 1996). Robbins (2001) suggests that consistent and continuous
maintenance of positive emotional responses is important in improving performance.
However, in the past, the improvement of employees’ attitudes and behaviors was a
major task of personal resource management (Stajkovic and Sommer, 2006), and
scholars’ perspectives on humans’ basic attainments were excluded from research. In
addition, research has focused on discouraging employees’ negative behaviors, and
research on developing and managing their merits has been rare. In academia, the
interest in positive organizational behaviors has intensified with the advent of positive
psychology.
Therefore, positive psychology emphasizes that scientific attention should be paid to
the positive emotions appearing in employees’ working situations rather than observing
employees from the existing pathologic viewpoint. Romeo and Cruthirds (2006) noted
that employees’ PPC reduced their negative behaviors and increased their positive
behaviors. Even Avey et al. (2009) mentioned that employees with high PPC experience
relatively less stress in a working situation and have little intention of changing
occupation owing to this. Chen and Lim (2012) mentioned that a person demonstrating
positive psychology is an excellent prospect even in his or her ability to find
employment; in their exploration of job-seeking behavior, this ability became the
foundation for excellence in job behavior after being hired by the organization. Other
researchers have also suggested a positive relationship between employees’ PPC and
their organizational performance, including organizational citizenship behavior (OCB),
perceived performance and satisfaction (Avey et al., 2006; Lee and Choi, 2010; Luthans
et al., 2005). This characteristic can be changed while undergoing the process of being
developed or consumed.
Job satisfaction (JS) emphasizes employees’ emotions (Robbins and Judge, 2012), and
it involves pleasant and positive emotional conditions obtained through job experiences
(Locke and Henne, 1986). Therefore, in the psychological context, PPC and JS are closely
related. In addition, OCBs used as dependent variables are representative of extra-role
behaviors; therefore, they are an important variable in employees’ positive behaviors.
For this reason, many studies have examined OCBs as variables for measuring
organizations’ performance. OCBs are an important element that affects not only
 objective performance but also subjective performance through voluntary participation Employees’
(Podsakoff et al., 2000; Yoon and Suh, 2003). positive
In the case of hotel service employees, as direct contact with customers occurs
because of the nature of the occupational group in which they face customers with their
psychological
countenance and voice (Karatepe and Olugbade, 2009), the employees’ psychology acts capital
as an important element that can influence their performance (Amin and Akbar, 2013).
In particular, due to the characteristics of a hotel company, its employees are exhausted 1137
from chronic stress and emotional labor (Pugh, 2001); therefore, research on positive
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psychology in employees in the hotel industry is expected to be more effectively applied

than in other industries. However, very few studies have examined PPC in hotel
employees who are in a representative emotional labor occupational group and provide
service to customers firsthand.
The aim of this study is to analyze the effect of employees’ PPC on JS and OCBs and
then to analyze the effect of employees’ JS on OCBs.

2. Literature review and conceptual model

2.1 PPC in the hotel industry
This study intended to present a view that hotel employees’ positive psychology
heightened their vigor, devotion and loyalty in a working situation, thereby making an
organization with excellent performance, and attempted to provide alternatives for such
change. Traditionally, research on the hotel industry has focused on discovering and
removing negative factors in an organization (Hodari et al., 2014; O’Neill and Davis,
2011) related to high turnover rate (Karatepe, 2009). In addition, it is more important
because the emotional labor is led to a concept of emotional contagion as for the
surrounding employees and because hotel employees’ positive psychology delivers
positive emotion to coworkers, thereby bringing about this synergic effect. The results
of such studies just led to returning to a condition without negative factors but failed to
present sufficient alternatives for the organization to positively change and continue to
develop. This is because only correcting what is wrong may not maximize an
organization’s performance.
In particular, a hotel company is bureaucratic and employees always perform the
same task in a closed space; therefore, due to continuous stress, it is difficult to expect
their creative behaviors (Hon et al., 2013). Therefore, hotel employees will need to have
a sense of self-efficacy, optimistic thoughts, hopes and positive psychology to overcome
problems. Accordingly, this study will present a meaningful result to the hotel industry
as a study from positive perspectives, intending to change employees’ consciousness
positively. But due to a lack of scholarly research on PPC or psychology emotion in the
hotel industry, this topic has been an issue of interest to scholars in the hotel industry.
In a study conducted with hotel employees, Meng et al. (2011) advised that positive
psychology shown by superiors in working situations positively affected job
engagement. Also, Kaplan and Bickes (2013) mentioned that resiliency and optimism
among sub-factors of PPC have significant influence upon hotel employees’ satisfaction.
To mention studies that examined the relationship between the sub-factors of PPC,
performance and attitudes, Basch and Fisher (1998) also mentioned that relief and
optimism among factors of giving positive emotion to hotel employees in a working
situation contribute most greatly to increasing own fulfillment. Yavas et al. (2013)
suggested that hotel employees’ hope was an important factor that relieved stress while
 IJCHM weakening their turnover intent. Also, Karatepe et al. (2007) advised that hotel
27,6 employees’ self-efficacy was closely related to JS and was a significant antecedent
variable of commitment. Karatepe and Olugbade (2009) also said that as a human
resource factor of hotel employees, self-efficacy positively affected job engagement.
Even Niu (2010) emphasized that the food service employees’ high self-efficacy leads
even to the high career commitment, adding importance of self-efficacy that food service
1138 employees will need to have. Chow et al. (2007) stated that hotel employees’ optimism
enhanced their intention to remain in the organization. As mentioned above, the fact that
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positive performance is induced by PPC and the sub-factors that constitute PPC was
verified.
As a similar concept, there was research on fun. Chan (2010) noted that positive
atmosphere or environment of a working place played an important part in preventing
employees’ breakaway and conceptualized fun into staff-oriented, supervisor-oriented,
social-oriented and strategy-oriented one based on interviews with hotel employees.
Zapf and Holz (2006) also mentioned that positive emotion being felt by hotel employees
in a working situation displays favorable influence even upon own fulfillment. In a
study of students majoring in hospitality industry, Choi et al. (2013) observed that when
they experienced pleasure in a working space, their JS, OCB-individuals and job
performance increased, emphasizing the importance of positive mind experienced
through pleasure. Therefore, in the hotel industry where organizational performance is
produced utilizing invisible capital, employees’ PPC should have important meanings.

2.2 Model development and hypotheses

2.2.1 Positive psychological capital, job satisfaction and organizational citizenship
behaviors. PPC measures psychological conditions in a work situation, not a person’s
characteristic disposition. Luthans et al. (2005, p. 253) defined PPC as:
[…] a core psychological factor of positivity in general, and positive organizational behavior
criteria meeting states in particular, that go beyond human and social capital to gain a
competitive advantage through investment/development of “who you are” (Luthans et al.,
2004).
Luthans and Youssef (2004) and Luthans et al. (2007) suggested that employees’ PPC
consists of hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism. Thus far, these four elements
have been separately examined as independent concepts, but recently their validity has
been presented in empirical research (Youssef and Luthans, 2007). As a definition of
sub-elements of PPC, hope is a condition of motivation provision for an individual’s will
and goal achievement route based on a belief that a goal may be achieved and a plan will
be performed successfully (Synder et al., 1996). Self-efficacy is confidence in one’s ability
to perform specific tasks successfully (Parker, 1998). Resilience is one’s ability to recover
rapidly from hardship, conflicts and failure or positive events (Luthans, 2002).
Optimism is the mood or attitude associated with an interpretation about the social or
material – one which the evaluator regards as socially desirable to his (her) advantage or
for his (her) pleasure (Tiger, 1971).
Locke (1969, p. 316) defined JS as “the pleasurable emotional state resulting from the
appraisal of one’s job as achieving or facilitating the achievement of one’s job values”.
OCBs are not prescribed by official organizations, but refer to the voluntary extra-role
behaviors of members who contribute to the efficacy of organizations (Organ, 1988).
 Robbins and Judge (2012, p. 61) defined OCBs as “discretionary behavior is not part Employees’
of employees’ formal job requirements, and that contributes to the psychological and positive
social environment of the workplace”.
2.2.2 Relationship between PPC and JS. In one of the major studies on employees’ PPC
psychological
and JS, Luthans et al. (2005 and 2006) noted that employees’ PPC leads to greater capital
satisfaction and performance through a supportive organizational climate. They also
noted that among the elements of employees’ PPC, resilience most significantly affects 1139
performance because it helps individuals to overcome frustration and gives them an
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increased opportunity for growth. Also, Lee and Choi (2010) added that the PPC has
positive significant influence upon employees’ subjective performance, like a rise in JS
through employees’ positive psychological status and motivation. In a similar context,
Brief et al. (1995) mentioned that the psychological capital, stirred by a positive
atmosphere or psychological feeling, leads to an increase in JS. Also, Wright et al. (2007)
observed that the employees’ PPC is strong in state-based propensity, thereby being
likely to play a very important role in eliciting positive satisfaction and performance.
After investigating sub-factors of PPC and JS, Peterson and Luthans (2003) verified
that employees’ hope was significantly and positively affected by JS and performance,
while Youssef and Luthans (2007) stated that greater hope and optimism as sub-factor of
PPC lead to higher satisfaction in job situations. Also, Duggleby et al. (2009) found that
hope is an important concept in the work life, and employees’ hope was closely related
with JS. In addition, Kluemper et al. (2009) noted that recognizing optimism lead to
greater satisfaction, commitment and performance. Lai and Chen (2012) proposed that
employee who has high self-efficacy will look forward to being better than other
colleagues; Kaplan and Bickes (2013) said that the resiliency and optimism positive
affect JS. Furthermore, Larrabee et al. (2010) observed employees who had capabilities to
wisely cope with a stressful situation, in other words, those with excellent resilience,
were satisfied with their tasks and, as a result, wanted to stay in their organization; Fatih
(2011) said that employees’ JS has a positive relationship with the resilience, hope and
optimism dimensions of the PPC.
Based on previous studies on the employees’ PPC, this study assumed that PPC of
employees will have a significant effect on JS of employees, and the following hypothesis
was formulated:
H1. Employees’ PPCs (included hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism)
positively influence their JS.
2.2.3 Relationship between PPC and OCBs. In a similar study that examined the
relationship between employees’ PPC and OCBs, Avey et al. (2006) suggested that
employees with greater PPC are more likely to get favorable responses (e.g. higher
performance and positive job attitude). Lifeng (2007) noted that three of the four
sub-factors of employees’ psychological capital (hope, optimism and resilience) had a
positive impact on their citizenship behaviors and organizational commitment. Avey
et al. (2008) mentioned that the employees with excellence in PPC have a high possibility
of helping coworkers or behaving favorably to wards other people, thereby being
excellent even in OCBs. Also, Luthans et al. (2008) claimed that a rise in employees’ PPC
leads to the development of an environment where the organization is more supportive
of employees, which in turn allows employees to have a positive image of the
organization, resulting in a rise even in OCBs. Avey et al. (2011) indicated that the
 IJCHM employees’ PPC have significant positive effects on OCBs. Alessandri et al. (2012)
27,6 categorized positive orientation in terms of self-esteem, life satisfaction and optimism,
and examined how positive orientation significantly affected OCBs. George and Brief
(1992) mentioned that employees’ positive psychological status has a direct relationship
with intention of helping coworkers or superiors. Hurtz and Donovan (2000) noted that
the positive atmosphere of employees’ working places or employees’ positive feelings
1140 increased their citizenship behaviors.
In their research on sub-factors of PPC and OCBs, Floman (2012) claimed that
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employees’ hope significantly affects employees’ citizenship behaviors through

employees’ job engagement. Youssef and Luthans (2007) as well asserted that resilience
has great influence on employees’ devotion by inducing their positive behaviors in an
organization. Also, Van Dyne et al. (2000) asserted that organizational-based self-esteem
positively affected employees’ citizenship behaviors, and optimism had a positive
relationship with OCBs. Niranjana and Pattanayak (2005) and Tisak et al. (2012)
indicated that optimism has a significant effect on employees’ citizenship behavior.
Thus, employees’ PPC is significantly associated with their OCBs.
Given these findings, the following hypothesis was proposed:
H2. Employees’ PPCs (included hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism)
positively influence their OCBs.
2.2.4 Relationship between JS and OCBs. In a study of the relationship between
employees’ JS and OCBs, Lapierre and Hackett (2007) indicated in their study of
employees that higher JS increases OCBs. Also, Murphy et al. (2002) found that higher JS
leads employees to positive behavior more to the organization; Shokrkon and Naami
(2009) noted that employees show higher satisfaction to the job when the organization
recognizes their work, and they have good relations with their co-workers. Moreover,
Nadiri and Tanova (2010) claimed that subjective JS has important implications for their
OCBs. Swaminathan and Jawahar (2013) surveyed faculty members and revealed that JS
becomes essential, as it leads to OCBs. Accordingly, an abundance of research shows
that subjective JS has important implications for employees’ OCBs (Foote and Tang,
2008; Lee and Allen, 2002; Robinson and Morrison, 2000).
Given these findings, the following hypothesis was proposed:
H3. Employees’ JS positively influences their OCBs.

3. Research methodology
3.1 Sample and data collection
In this study, data were collected from employees in deluxe hotels (ten hotels) in Seoul in
2013. Once permission was obtained from the hotel’s head of human resources
management, the employees were provided with a voluntary survey and were asked to
complete it. As recommended by Brislin (1980) and Parameswaran and Yaprak (1987),
the survey questionnaires originally written in English were translated into Korean via
back-translated method.
A pilot test of 50 hotel employees was conducted to ensure the scales’ reliability.
Some terms that had become indigestible as going through the translation process were
modified on the basis of the results of the pilot test. The pilot test was performed through
an interview with 40 employees and 10 managers. It involved an illustrative
questionnaire given to employees and simultaneously gauged opinions about sentences
 with confusing context. In-depth interviews were performed targeting 10 managers who Employees’
have been in office for more than 15 years. Through this, the general discussion on positive
questionnaire items progressed. After the initial item pool was finalized, a review was
conducted with hospitality professors and hotel human resource managers. The
psychological
completed questionnaires were sealed in envelopes to protect employee anonymity and capital
collected by the researcher two weeks later. The data collection was carried out from 10
to 28 February 2013. Of the 500 questionnaires distributed, 414 were returned over the 1141
two-week period (82.80 per cent). After elimination, 324 questionnaires with an effective
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response rate of 64.80 per cent were coded and analyzed.

3.2 Instrument development

The measures in this study can be grouped into four categories: employees’ PPC, JS,
OCBs and demographic characteristics. The survey instrument used to measure
employees’ PPC, JS and OCBs included a seven-point Likert scale (Appendix), asking
employees “How much do you agree or disagree with these statements?” (from 1:
strongly disagree to 7: strongly agree). Reliability and validity of measured variable,
which was used in this study, were used by borrowing variable, which was fully verified
in prior researches.
To measure employees’ PPC, this study adapted Luthans et al.’s (2007) multi-item
scales. The current study examined four dimensions of employees’ PPC (Luthans et al.,
2005): hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism. Each item was measured using these
16 items. JS was also measured using five items adapted from Spector (1985), Netemeyer
et al. (1997) and Yang (2010). OCBs were measured on the work of Podsakoff and
MacKenzie (1994) and Podsakoff et al. (2000). In this study, based on the study by
Barksdale and Werner (2001) that emphasized OCBs in the aspect of faithfulness and
altruism and referring to the studiers by LePine et al. (2002) and Ng and Feldman (2011)
indicating that as the correlation among OCBs sub-dimensions were high, sub-factors
were not divided but were examined as composite variable. Also, JS was measured
uni-dimensionally with five items. Part 4 of the questionnaire contained questions
eliciting demographic information from the respondents (e.g. age, gender and education
level) and job-related information (e.g. job tenure and department).

3.3 Analysis methods

This present study followed the two-step approach advocated by Anderson and
Gerbing (1988) in testing proposed hypotheses. All measures were subjected to
confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). Statistical procedures used to validate measures
included evaluation of dimensionality, reliability and validity. Finally, structural
equation modeling (SEM), using AMOS 5.0 (maximum likelihood method), was
conducted to test the proposed measurement model, and multiple regression analyses
were employed to test the relationships among the study constructs. Also, it aimed to
reduce error in self-reported data through Marker variable to exclude potential influence
of common method bias (Lindell and Whitney, 2001). Because, in the case of OCBs,
common method bias (CMB) errors occur most frequently, and among them, there are
those not resolved even with Harmons’ single factors (Gorrell et al., 2011). Marker
variable was used job engagement and was composed of three items based on a research
by Schaufeli et al. (2002) (alpha ⫽ 0.835; example item: I am immersed in my work).
 IJCHM 4. Results
27,6 4.1 Profile of the sample
The profile of the sample is presented in Table I. The mean age of the employees was
31.48 years old; 44.1 per cent were 20 to 29 years of age. The majority of the employees
(66.7 per cent) were male. Most employees had a community college or university degree
(89.5 per cent). They had been working for an average of 5.52 years in the current hotel,
1142 and most belonged to front of house and back of house, accounting for 64.5 and 28.4 per
cent, respectively.
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4.2 Measurement model

Following Anderson and Gerbing’s (1988) two-step approach, a CFA is used to
determine the validity of the factor structure of measurement variables; it is carried out
before examining the causality of a developed theoretical model (Byrne, 2001). First, to
find the factor structure of the four constructs of PPC, we examined the formation of
first- and second-order CFA models (Rindskopf and Rose, 1988). Furthermore, this study
provides additional evidences to confirm validity where we compared the four
first-order factor models and one second-order factor with four first-order models.
The results as shown in Table II reveals that the second-order PPC models are best
fit, ␹2 ⫽ 155.711; df ⫽ 98; ␹2/df ⫽ 1.589; GFI ⫽ 0.943; CFI ⫽ 0.981. This was consistent
with the study result by Chen and Lim (2012) that the second factor of PPC was most
notable. Table III shows the results of measurement model analysis with PPC as a
second-order construct, which was comprised of employees’ PPC (hope, self-efficacy,

Characteristic N (%)

Gender
Male 216 66.7
Female 108 33.3
Age
21 to 29 years 143 44.1
30 to 39 years 141 43.5
Older than 40 years 40 12.3
Average 31.48 ⫾ 6.55
Education level
Community college degree (two years) 167 51.5
University degree (four years) 123 38.0
Graduation university degree (two years) 34 10.5
Tenure
Five years or fewer 214 66.0
Six to nine years 45 13.9
10 years or more 65 20.1
Average 5.52 ⫾ 4.96
Department
Table I. FOH 209 64.5
Profile of the sample BOH 92 28.4
(n ⫽ 324) Others 32 7.1
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Model Factor ␹2 df ⌬␹2 ␹2/df GFI CFI RMR AIC

1 One factor 1,318.948 104 – 12.682 0.589 0.605 0.159 1,382.948

2 Four first-order factors 169.288 96 1,149.66* 1.763 0.939 0.976 0.050 249.288
3 One second-order factor with four first-order factors 155.711 98 13.577* 1.589 0.943 0.981 0.054 231.711

Note: ⌬df ⫽ 2 (⌬␹2 ⫽ 5.99, * p ⬍ 0.05)

for positive
Comparison of
Table II.
1143
capital
psychological
positive
Employees’

psychological capital
measurement models
 IJCHM
27,6
Construct (Cronbach’s alpha) Standardized estimate Fixed t-value CCRa AVEb

Hope (0.924) 0.841 0.660

PPC1 0.851
1144 PPC2 0.883 20.308
PPC3 0.868 19.658
PPC4 0.621 12.119
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Self-efficacy (0.872) 0.863 0.638

PPC5 0.767
PPC6 0.831 15.253
PPC7 0.860 15.775
PPC8 0.726 13.138
Resilience (0.886) 0.864 0.649
PPC9 0.787
PPC10 0.817 15.525
PPC11 0.814 15.476
PPC12 0.836 15.947
Optimism (0.881) 0.826 0.606
PPC13 0.818
PPC14 0.829 15.931
PPC15 0.807 15.504
PPC16 0.648 11.938
Positive psychology capital (0.763) 0.843 0.517
Hope 0.857
Self-efficacy 0.742 10.060
Resilience 0.686 9.635
Optimism 0.559 8.169
Job satisfaction (0.922) 0.888 0.691
JS1 0.918
JS2 0.906 25.853
JS3 0.737 16.868
JS4 0.827 21.022
JS5 0.753 17.535
Organizational citizenship behaviors (0.902) 0.868 0.625
OCBs1 0.746
OCBs2 0.851 17.503
OCBs3 0.843 14.424
OCBs4 0.715 12.016
OCBs5 0.790 13.526

Notes: a CCR ⫽ composite construct reliability; b AVE ⫽ average variance extracted; standardized
estimate ⫽ ␤-value; ␹2 ⫽ 628.801 (df ⫽ 288) p ⬍ 0.001; ␹2/df ⫽ 2.183; goodness of fit index (GFI) ⫽
0.869; normed fit index (NFI) ⫽ 0.900; Tucker – Lewis index (TLI) ⫽ 0.934; comparative fit index
Table III.
(CFI) ⫽ 0.941; incremental fit index (IFI) ⫽ 0.942; root square error of approximation (RMSEA) ⫽ 0.068;
Confirmatory factor
root mean square residual (RMR) ⫽ 0.061; *** p ⬍ 0.001
analysis and
reliability analysis
 resilience and optimism), JS and OCBs. CFA models demonstrated the soundness of Employees’
measurement properties (␹2 ⫽ 628.801; df ⫽ 288; p ⬍ 0.001; ␹2/df ⫽ 2.183; GFI ⫽ 0.869; positive
NFI ⫽ 0.900; CFI ⫽ 0.941; RMSEA ⫽ 0.068; RMR ⫽ 0.061). In addition, all Cronbach’s
alpha (0.763-0.924) and composite reliability estimates (0.826-0.888) of each
psychological
measurement scale exceeded the minimum requirement of 0.70, indicating its internal capital
consistency and uni-dimensionality to the corresponding constructs, respectively
(Nunnally, 1978). Furthermore, all standardized estimates (␤-value) exceeded 0.60 1145
(except two-order optimism), and each indicator t-value exceeded 8.0 (p ⬍ 0.001) (Hair
et al., 2006). In addition, all average variance extracted (hope ⫽ 0.660; self-efficacy ⫽
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0.638; resilience ⫽ 0.649; optimism ⫽ 0.606; PPC ⫽ 0.517; JS ⫽ 0.691; OCBs ⫽ 0.625)
exceeded the recommended 0.50 threshold (Fornell and Larcker, 1981). Means, standard
deviations and correlations for the study’s constructs are presented in Table IV. As
expected, employees’ PPC (include sub-factors: hope, self-efficacy, resilience and
optimism) was significantly and positively related to JS and OCBs.
To address a potential CMB caused by the survey method, we checked for possible
CMB using Marker variable test (Gorrell et al., 2011; Hon and Lu, 2010; Lindell and
Whitney, 2001). As shown in Table IV, the correlation between exogenous variable and
endogenous variable had no significant difference from when having used job
engagement as Marker variable. Accordingly, the probability that CMB error will occur
in this study was indicated to be very small.

4.3 Structural equation modeling

SEM was conducted to test hypotheses. The SEM fit was good (␹2 ⫽ 639.554; df ⫽ 289;
p ⬍ 0.001; ␹2/df ⫽ 2.213; GFI ⫽ 0.867; NFI ⫽ 0.896; CFI ⫽ 0.940; RMSEA ⫽ 0.061;
RMR ⫽ 0.069). Figure 1 presents the standardized path coefficients and p-values for all
relationships in the SEM.
In H1, we predicted the influence of employees’ PPC on JS. H1 was supported (␤ ⫽
0.727; t ⫽ 8.988). This means that the more positive psychology an employee has in a job
situation, the more he or she is satisfied with his or her tasks. In more detail, Table V
shows the effects of PPC factors (hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism) on JS. Hope
(␤ ⫽ 0.442; t ⫽ 8.152) and optimism (␤ ⫽ 0.116; t ⫽ 2.188) significantly affected
employees’ JS, whereas self-efficacy (␤ ⫽ 0.066; t ⫽ 1.345) and resilience (␤ ⫽ 0.102;
t ⫽1.899) did not (Table V). H2 suggested that, as PPC increases, employees’ level of
OCBs also increases. H2 was supported also (␤ ⫽ 0.400; t ⫽ 4.212). This evidences that
employees’ positive psychology has important influence on OCBs, representative
altruistic behaviors within an organization. More specifically (Table V), hope (␤ ⫽ 0.387;
t ⫽ 6.986) and resilience (␤ ⫽ 0.222; t ⫽ 4.153) – among employees’ PPC factors –
significantly affected employees’ OCBs, whereas self-efficacy (␤ ⫽ 0.038; t ⫽ 0.709) and
optimism (␤ ⫽ 0.070; t ⫽ 1.393) did not. H3 predicted that, as employees’ level of JS
increases, their level of OCBs increases. As expected, the path estimates were positive
and significant. Therefore, H3 was supported (␤ ⫽0.320; t ⫽ 3.847).

5. Conclusion and discussion

5.1 Conclusion
This study examined employees’ PPC in a deluxe hotel to verify the varying effects of
PPC on employees’ JS and OCBs. PPC is comprised of four elements: hope, self-efficacy,
resilience and optimism.
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27,6

1146
IJCHM

Table IV.

deviations and
Means, standard

correlation analyses
Construct 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 Mean ⫾ SD a

1. Gender 1 –
2. Age ⫺0.130* 1 –
3. Education level ⫺0.084 ⫺0.223** 1 –
4. Tenure ⫺0.112* 0.761** 0.057 1 –
5. Hope 0.114* 0.226** ⫺0.030 0.239** 1 0.351** 0.336** 5.06 ⫾ 1.04
6. Self-efficacy 0.094 0.219** ⫺0.028 0.193** 0.546** 1 0.264** 0.235** 4.98 ⫾ 0.89
7. Resilience ⫺0.050 0.121* ⫺0.056 0.087 0.481** 0.527** 1 0.347** 0.188** 4.91 ⫾ 0.96
8. Optimism ⫺0.038 0.095 ⫺0.014 0.077 0.441** 0.417** 0.272** 1 0.138** 0.290** 5.28 ⫾ 0.92
9. PPC 0.041 0.217** ⫺0.042 0.197** 0.820** 0.804** 0.746** 0.689** 1 0.388** 0.370** 5.06 ⫾ 0.73
10. JS 0.067 0.091 0.025 0.137* 0.553** 0.434** 0.496** 0.302** 0.588** 1 0.325** 4.90 ⫾ 1.03
11. OCBs 0.043 0.247** 0.047 0.292** 0.512** 0.388** 0.353** 0.403** 0.544** 0.534** 1 5.10 ⫾ 0.93

Notes: a SD ⫽ standard deviation, All variables were measured on a seven-point Likert scale from 1 (strongly disagree) to 7 (strongly agree); PPC (positive
psychology capital); JS (job satisfaction); OCBs (organizational citizenship behaviors); * p ⬍ 0.05, ** p ⬍ 0.01; yellow box: Marker variable partial
correlational analysis (correlation between job commitment and the Marker variable in this study (Mean ⫽ 5.02, SD ⫽ 1.08)
 Employees’
positive
psychological
capital

1147
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Figure 1.
Structural parameter
estimates

Dependent variable
JS OCBs
Independent variable ␤ t-value ␤ t-value

Hope 0.442 8.152*** 0.387 6.986***

Self-efficacy 0.066 1.345ns 0.038 0.709ns
Resilience 0.102 1.899ns 0.222 4.153***
Optimism 0.116 2.188* 0.070 1.393ns
F-statistic 23.612*** 20.692***
R2 0.343 0.314
Table V.
Notes: PPC (positive psychology capital); JS (job satisfaction); OCBs (organizational citizenship The effects of PPC on
behaviors); *** p ⬍ 0.001, * p ⬍ 0.05; ns not significant JS and OCBs

This study found that employees’ PPC in a deluxe hotel had a significant, positive effect
on JS and OCBs. Moreover, Luthans et al. (2005, 2006) and Lee and Choi (2010), who
examined the relationship between PPC and JS, and Lifeng (2007) and Avey et al. (2008,
2011), who examined the relationship between PPC and OCBs, had similar results. It was
verified that PPC was an important performance factor that could improve employees’
JS and OCBs. In more detail, employees’ hope and optimism had a significant effect on
their JS, while hope and resilience affected their OCBs. However, the result was in
contrast with study result by Lai and Chen (2012) that self-efficacy influenced JS and
with a study result by Fatih (2011) and Larrabee et al. (2010) that resilience and JS had
close relationship with each other. It is estimated that self-efficacy that one successfully
resolves problems with one’s own capabilities and optimism that one overcomes
difficult work well or resolves one’s problems flexibly do not have significance influence
on one’s satisfaction in a uniform and closed working environment. Van Dyne et al.
(2000) and Niranjana and Pattanayak (2005) reported as well that self-esteem and
optimism influenced OCBs, but in the present study result, they did not. It is considered
that self-efficacy and optimism are also psychological responses focusing on
 IJCHM overcoming problems, and such aspects had no significant effect on OCBs. As for the
27,6 link between JS and OCBs, the influence of JS on OCBs was significant. This finding
supported earlier work (Nadiri and Tanova, 2010; Shokrkon and Naami, 2009;
Swaminathan and Jawahar, 2013), an employee’s JS improves his or her citizenship
behaviors.

1148 5.2 Theoretical implications

Although research on PPC in the area of human resource management of business
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administration has been actively reported, its history is short in the nation; thus, diverse
research on dependent variables of PPC is necessary. Also, most previous studies have
examined PPC mainly in general industries. However, no study has been conducted with
hotel employees. In particular, in hotels, close relationships between customers and
employees play the most crucial role in employees’ service performance, and the
dependence on human services is very high (Brown et al., 2002). As service processes
inherently involve interaction between employees and customers (Skaggs and
Galli-Debicella, 2012; Skaggs and Youndt, 2004), the quality of interaction comes to
define the performance of service providers and the financial results of service
provision. Therefore, employees’ positive behaviors decisively affect the level of service
provided to customers (Chow et al., 2006) and, as a result, greatly influence an
organization’s efficiency. Thus, the positive psychology of hotel employees has a
profound effect on improvements in the organization’s performance. Accordingly, this
study focused on hotels as representative of the hospitality industry by using JS and
OCBs – employees’ positive attitudes – as the final dependent variables.
This study will have significance, as the initial research considering whether hotel
employees’ PPC formation has significant influence on JS, which is typical in-role
behavior, and on OCBs, which is extra-role behavior. According to the results, PPC is an
important variable predicting employees’ attitudes and behaviors that increase an
organization’s effectiveness and performance. In particular, hope and optimism
significantly influenced JS, while hope and resilience significantly affected OCBs.
Therefore, to improve employees’ JS, consideration and motivation that may enhance
employees’ hope and optimism should be offered. On the other hand, to increase OCBs,
measures to increase hope and resilience should be sought. In particular, considering
that hope is an element of motive to achieve desired objectives and mental energy that
enables the implementation of various methods in the process of pursuing objectives
(Synder, 1996), hope is considered to have a positive effect on employees’ JS and OCBs.
By the same token, optimistic employees tend to seek pleasure and worth in their job.
This leads to a rise in JS. Moreover, optimism involves positive beliefs, and those who
have high optimism find more pleasure and worth in their job than those who do not
(Luthans et al., 2007). As a result, they have higher JS. Moreover, resilience means
having the capacity to respond positively in a risky or stressful situation, and resilient
employees have excellent capabilities related to extra-job behaviors to help and care for
others (Luthans and Youssef, 2004).

5.3 Practical implications

This study verified that functions of hotel employees’ PPC that raised their JS also
increased their OCBs. Therefore, positive psychology of employees in a job situation is
predicted to lead employees to various efforts to develop the organization and
 themselves, thereby creating performance and strengthening management power. Employees’
Accordingly, the practical suggestion of this study starts from the need to manage positive
employees’ psychological resources on a hotel level based on the significant relationship
between employees’ performance and their PPC. If employees with PPC are highly
psychological
satisfied with their jobs, they actively help their colleagues or superiors and are loyal to capital
their organizations. Therefore, hotels should enhance their employees’ PPC by
cultivating a friendly working atmosphere. 1149
To enhance hope, resilience and optimism, employees’ self-efficacy should be
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protected, which encourages them to grow and improve their motivation. Cultural traits
of the East’s collectivist nature are reflected in hotel culture as well (Cerović et al., 2011);
therefore, hotels have rather collectivist and rigid cultures. Accordingly, using
employees’ PPC in the rigid hotel organizational culture is all the more effective because
employees with a lot of PPC are less cynical about criticism within an organization.
They will view the undesirable attitudes of other employees (e.g. turnover intent)
negatively and their PPC can contribute to reducing chronic stress and exhaustion and
decreasing emotional labor (Avey et al., 2009; Pugh, 2001). In addition, it is difficult in
practice for hotel employees who perform more than enough emotional labor through
continuous contact with customers to maintain positive emotions. Learning methods to
maintain positive psychological states in all situations is meaningful and considered
wise internal marketing at the business level. In particular, given that PPC is not a
general attribute endowed from the beginning, it can be developed through education;
this can be more meaningful than educating employees on diverse technologies.
Employees with a lot of PPC always think positively, expect a bright future and are
highly motivated in job situations; therefore, their cognitive capabilities will be
heightened. In particular, hope was an important positive psychological variable that
significantly affected both JS and OCBs. In general, employees with a high level of hope
were highly motivated by their job and able to establish plans, doing their best in their
situation; they showed positive attitudes toward their jobs. Therefore, in the actual place
of business, an atmosphere conducive to educating and supporting employees so that
they can have positive psychology should be created. As an internal marketing measure,
a mentoring system can build close bonds between organization employees. In addition,
giving special humorous lectures and operating counseling rooms will encourage
employees to regard their job from a positive and hopeful perspective.
To foster employees’ positive psychology, hotels should implement programs to
strengthen it (Seligman et al., 2006), such as:
• writing and delivering a letter of gratitude;
• imagining a future ideal life;
• practicing kindness;
• forgiving and receiving therapy of hope;
• utilizing one’s strong points in character;
• pursuing a goal that satisfies one’s desires; and
• responding actively and constructively.

A group counseling program that applies positive psychology expands individuals’

positive emotions when they confront a crisis due to psychological and
 IJCHM non-psychological changes; they learn capabilities to appropriately and flexibly cope
27,6 with a crisis (Bae and Jung, 2013). Therefore, such program is considered useful for hotel
employees. In conclusion, understanding employees’ psychological states in working
situations and providing diverse learning support, psychological counseling, providing
rest and recreation and a supportive organizational culture and atmosphere may be
more important than anything else.
1150
5.4 Limitations and future research
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Despite these findings, several limitations of the study need to be addressed. First, the
samples were confined to some deluxe hotels in the hospitality industry, and it is
difficult to generalize the results to all deluxe hotels. Accordingly, subsequent studies
might conduct comparative analyses of hotels and other sectors of the hospitality
industry. Second, this study is a cross-sectional study, including only a single one-time
measurement; longitudinal studies will be necessary in the future. Also, in this study,
dependent variable dubbed OCBs was directly answered by respondents. However,
future research will be able to obtain more objective outcome given measuring with
evaluation on superiors or coworkers. Third, this study did not consider antecedent
variables of PPC. Future research should be expanded to include other
antecedent variables such as leadership and an organization’s atmosphere, and the
dependent variables should also include turnover intent or counterproductive behaviors
of negative aspects in addition to performance of positive aspects. Fourth, as employees’
job-related information (e.g. job tenure and department) may moderate the causal
relation of PPC, JS and OCBs, future studies should examine the moderating effects of
such personal conditions. Therefore, this point should be supplemented in later studies.

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Further reading
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Appendix. A survey instruments

PPC1 ⫽ Right now, I see myself as being pretty successful at work.
PPC2 ⫽ If I should find myself in a jam at work, I could think of many ways to get out of it.
PPC3 ⫽ I can think of many ways to reach my current goal.
PPC4 ⫽ At the present time, I am energetically pursuing my goals.
PPC5 ⫽ I feel confident in representing my work area in meetings with management.
PPC6 ⫽ I feel confident helping to attain targets in my area.
PPC7 ⫽ I make suggestions to management about ways to improve my section’s work.
PPC8 ⫽ I analyze a long-term problem to find a solution.
PPC9 ⫽ When I have a setback at work, I have trouble recovering from it and moving on®.
PPC10 ⫽ I usually take stressful things at work in stride.
PPC11 ⫽ I quickly get over and recover from being startled.
PPC12 ⫽ I can get through difficult times at work because I have experienced difficulty before.
PPC13 ⫽ I always look on the bright side of things regarding my job.
PPC14 ⫽ If something can go wrong for me work-wise, it will.
PPC15 ⫽ I am always optimistic about my future.
PPC16 ⫽ Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad.
JS1 ⫽ In general, I am satisfied with my job.
JS2 ⫽ I like doing the things I do at work.
JS3 ⫽ My job is enjoyable.
JS4 ⫽ I feel a sense of pride in doing my job.
JS5 ⫽ I sometimes feel my job is meaning.
OCB1 ⫽ I try to implement solutions to pressing organizational problems.
OCB2 ⫽ Conscientiously follows company rules and procedures.
OCB3 ⫽ I always ready to lend a helping hand to those around me.
OCB4 ⫽ I help others who have a heavy work load and who are absent.
OCB5 ⫽ I willingly help others who have work-related problems.
Notes: PPC (positive psychology capital); PPC1-4 (hope); PPC5-8 (self-efficacy); PPC9-12 (resilience);
PPC13-16 (optimism); JS (job satisfaction); OCB (organizational citizenship behavior).

Corresponding author
Hye Hyun Yoon can be contacted at: hhyun@khu.ac.kr

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