IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/plo/pone00/0323731.html

Assessment of positive psychological functioning among Chinese university students: Revision and psychometric properties of a psychological capital scale

Author

Listed:
  • Yanlan Chen
  • Xiaowei Feng
  • Syed Kamaruzaman Syed Ali
  • Hutkemri Zulnaidi

Abstract

Psychological capital serves as a psychological asset facilitating personal growth and enhanced performance. It aids individuals in navigating life’s myriad challenges and adversities, promoting psychological well-being and adaptability. Despite the widely recognized importance of psychological capital in enhancing competitiveness and work performance, existing assessment tools, such as the PCQ-24 developed by Luthans et al. (2007), have not been adequately validated in the Chinese university student population. To explore the factor structure of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ-24) developed by Luthans et al., the researchers employed Principal Component Analysis (PCA) and Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA), extracting factors with eigenvalues greater than 1. The results revealed a six-factor structure, which is inconsistent with the original four-factor structure of the PCQ-24 measurement tool. Therefore, Luthans’ psychological capital scale is not suitable for university students. Additionally, the indigenous scale developed by Chinese researchers Ke Jianglin et al (2009) is more suitable for organizational employees rather than university students. Hence, it is essential to revise and validate a psychological capital measurement tool appropriate for Chinese university students. To fill this gap, the researchers aimed to revise and validate a psychological capital scale suitable for Chinese university students based on the four structural dimensions proposed by Luthans et al. In this study, a large-scale survey of Chinese university students (N = 2780) was conducted, and SPSS 26.0 and AMOS 24.0 were used to statistically analyze the data and assess the psychometric properties of the Revised Mental Capital Scale. The results indicate that the revised psychological capital scale meets the psychometric requirements. The study concluded that the psychological capital scale revised and validated by the researcher can be used as an instrument to measure and assess the psychological capital of university students.

Suggested Citation

  • Yanlan Chen & Xiaowei Feng & Syed Kamaruzaman Syed Ali & Hutkemri Zulnaidi, 2025. "Assessment of positive psychological functioning among Chinese university students: Revision and psychometric properties of a psychological capital scale," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 20(6), pages 1-14, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0323731
    DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0323731
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0323731
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0323731&type=printable
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1371/journal.pone.0323731?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Luthans, Fred & Luthans, Kyle W. & Luthans, Brett C., 2004. "Positive psychological capital: beyond human and social capital," Business Horizons, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 45-50.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Ayatakshee Sarkar & Naval Garg & DK Srivastava & BK Punia, 2024. "Can Gratitude Counter Workplace Toxicity? Exploring the Mediating Role of Psychological Capital (PsyCap)," Business Perspectives and Research, , vol. 12(2), pages 261-276, April.
    2. Maciej Jagódka & Małgorzata Snarska, 2021. "The State of Human Capital and Innovativeness of Polish Voivodships in 2004–2018," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(22), pages 1-20, November.
    3. Dan Kan & Xiaosong Yu, 2016. "Occupational Stress, Work-Family Conflict and Depressive Symptoms among Chinese Bank Employees: The Role of Psychological Capital," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 13(1), pages 1-11, January.
    4. Mohd Hizam Hanafiah, & Sheikh Usman Yousaf, & Bushra Usman,, 2017. "The influence of psychological capital on the growth intentions of entrepreneurs: A study on Malaysian SME entrepreneurs," Business and Economic Horizons (BEH), Prague Development Center, vol. 13(5), pages 556-569, December.
    5. Mahto, Raj V. & Llanos-Contreras, Orlando & Hebles, Melany, 2022. "Post-disaster recovery for family firms: The role of owner motivations, firm resources, and dynamic capabilities," Journal of Business Research, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 117-129.
    6. Cheng-Yi Luo & Chin-Hsun (Ken) Tsai & Ming-Hsiang Chen & Jun-Li Gao, 2021. "The Effects of Psychological Capital and Internal Social Capital on Frontline Hotel Employees’ Adaptive Performance," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(10), pages 1-19, May.
    7. Nasser Saad Alkahtani & M. M. Sulphey & Kevin Delany & Anass Hamad Elneel Adow, 2021. "A Conceptual Examination about the Correlates of Psychological Capital (PsyCap) among the Saudi Arabian Workforce," Social Sciences, MDPI, vol. 10(4), pages 1-16, March.
    8. Nasser Saad Al Kahtani & Sulphey M. M., 2022. "A Study on How Psychological Capital, Social Capital, Workplace Wellbeing, and Employee Engagement Relate to Task Performance," SAGE Open, , vol. 12(2), pages 21582440221, May.
    9. Primrose Madende & Johannes I. F. Henning & Henry Jordaan, 2023. "Accounting for Heterogeneity among Youth: A Missing Link in Enhancing Youth Participation in Agriculture—A South African Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(6), pages 1-22, March.
    10. Delia Vîrgă & Elena-Loreni Baciu & Theofild-Andrei Lazăr & Daria Lupșa, 2020. "Psychological Capital Protects Social Workers from Burnout and Secondary Traumatic Stress," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(6), pages 1-16, March.
    11. Séverine Chevalier & Isabelle Calmé & Hélène Coillot & Karine Le Rudulier & Evelyne Fouquereau, 2022. "How Can Students' Entrepreneurial Intention Be Increased? The Role of Psychological Capital, Perceived Learning From an Entrepreneurship Education Program, Emotions and Their Relationships," Post-Print hal-03633580, HAL.
    12. Yoshitaka Yamazaki, 2012. "Learning style and confidence: an empirical investigation of Japanese employees," Working Papers EMS_2012_09, Research Institute, International University of Japan.
    13. Miguel Cunha & Arménio Rego & Antonino Vaccaro, 2014. "Organizations as Human Communities and Internal Markets: Searching for Duality," Journal of Business Ethics, Springer, vol. 120(4), pages 441-455, April.
    14. Huma Sarwar & Kashif Nadeem & Junaid Aftab, 2017. "The impact of psychological capital on project success mediating role of emotional intelligence in construction organizations of Pakistan," Journal of Global Entrepreneurship Research, Springer;UNESCO Chair in Entrepreneurship, vol. 7(1), pages 1-13, December.
    15. Jiunnhorng Lou & Renhau Li & Shuling Chen, 2022. "Development of the Psychological Capital Scale for Male Nursing Students in Taiwan and Testing Its Measurement Invariance between Genders," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-10, March.
    16. Neagu Olimpia & Dumiter Florin & Braica Alexandra & Jimon Ștefania & David Gabriela, 2019. "The Correlation Between Human Capital and Gross Added Value in the Bioeconomy Sectors at the European Union (EU) Country Level," Studia Universitatis „Vasile Goldis” Arad – Economics Series, Sciendo, vol. 29(1), pages 1-20, March.
    17. Nguyen Dinh Tho, 2018. "A Configurational Role of Human Capital Resources in the Quality of Work Life of Marketers: FsQCA and SEM Findings from Vietnam," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 13(2), pages 461-478, June.
    18. Yogesh Upadhyay & Dharmendra Kumar, 2020. "Leader–Member Exchange, Psychological Capital and Employees’ Creativity," Vision, , vol. 24(4), pages 406-418, December.
    19. Luigino Barisan & Marco Lucchetta & Cristian Bolzonella & Vasco Boatto, 2019. "How Does Carbon Footprint Create Shared Values in the Wine Industry? Empirical Evidence from Prosecco Superiore PDO’s Wine District," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(11), pages 1-13, May.
    20. Andrew Denovan & Ann Macaskill, 2017. "Stress and Subjective Well-Being Among First Year UK Undergraduate Students," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 18(2), pages 505-525, April.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:plo:pone00:0323731. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: plosone (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://journals.plos.org/plosone/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.