Using the lens of positive thinking is an essential key to improving one's psychological well-being, especially in the modern workplace. In today's "flat-world" and fast-paced environment, modern organizations are well-fitted with the perspective of positive organizational behavior (POB) because POB assumes state-like capacities highlighting flexibility for different situations. The sport industry, one of the most competitive workplace arenas (Plunkett, 2008), creates a particularly exceptional environment in which POB needs to be adapted for an improved employee's work experience and well-being. In transferring the idea of POB to the practice of human resource management, Luthans and Youssef (2004) proposed the concept of psychological capital or simply PsyCap. PsyCap is a high-order construct of self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resiliency, and is considered as state-like, potentially having a synergistic impact on individual and organizational outcomes. Given the importance of POB and PsyCap in sport organizations, the three-fold purpose of this study is to: (1) provide a conceptual framework of POB in sport (POBS), (2) empirically examine the effects of various influences on PsyCap, and (3) investigate the role of PsyCap in increasing employees' PWB. Top management teams of an organization will expect their employees to be efficacious, hopeful, optimistic and resilient, but only a few studies have offered a systematic consideration for antecedents of PsyCap (Avey, 2014). Employees' PsyCap levels are determined by leaders' behavior, organizational culture, and individual perspectives and attitudes. Therefore, the conceptual framework of POB in sport (POBS) considers leader, employees, and organizational influences for PsyCap. The ultimate goal of POB is the pursuit of employees' happiness and well-being beyond higher levels of organizational performance. Thus, POBS emphasizes the inclusion of employees' PWB to general organizational outcomes. By proposing a testable research model, 11 research hypotheses were addressed, including both direct and indirect effects. This reduced model consisted of six main constructs, including authentic leadership, meaningful work, supportive organizational climate, PsyCap, job satisfaction and PWB. To create reliable and valid scales to test the research hypotheses, an initial set of items was developed in a pilot test by collecting data from employees in athletic departments of Division II and III institutions. The three-fold purpose of the main study is to (1) provide further evidence of construct validity of constructs in the research model, (2) test research hypotheses in regard to causal relationships among five constructs, and (3) examine the mediating role of PsyCap between three predictors (i.e., authentic leadership, meaningful work, supportive organizational climate) and PWB. To achieve each aforementioned purpose, the main study targeted employees in athletic departments of Division I institutions and included three stages of data analysis, respectively: (1) evaluation of full measurement model through a CFA, (2) empirical test of research hypotheses through SEM, and (3) examination of indirect effects of PsyCap. The results from the empirical tests of the hypothesized model indicated that employees' meaningful work and supportive organizational climate positively influence PsyCap level, leading to higher levels of job satisfaction and PWB. On the other hand, the path from authentic leadership of athletic directors in athletic departments, to employees' PsyCap was not statistically significant with the sample from the current study. Based on the results of the direct effects, indirect effects regarding PsyCap as a central value were also tested. PsyCap played important roles between antecedents (i.e., left) and outcomes (i.e., right) as either a partial mediator or a full mediator. The current study provides empirical evidence regarding not only antecedents and outcomes of PsyCap but also mediating role of PsyCap in the context of sport. For practitioners in the sport industry, the current study offers a new perspective of positivity in workplace by conceptualizing a POBS as a roadmap. / A Dissertation submitted to the Department of Sport Management in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester 2015. / June 23, 2015. / Includes bibliographical references. / Amy Chan Hyung Kim, Professor Directing Dissertation; Gerald R. Ferris, University Representative; Joshua I. Newman, Committee Member; Pamela L. Perrewé, Committee Member.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:fsu.edu/oai:fsu.digital.flvc.org:fsu_273642 |
| Contributors | Kim, Min Jung (authoraut), Kim, Amy Chan Hyung (professor directing dissertation), Ferris, Gerald R. (university representative), Newman, Joshua I. (committee member), Perrewé, Pamela L. (committee member), Florida State University (degree granting institution), College of Education (degree granting college), Department of Sport Management (degree granting department) |
| Publisher | Florida State University, Florida State University |
| Source Sets | Florida State University |
| Language | English, English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text, text |
| Format | 1 online resource (140 pages), computer, application/pdf |
| Rights | This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s). The copyright in theses and dissertations completed at Florida State University is held by the students who author them. |
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