The relationship among college students' psychological capital, learning empowerment, and engagement

Abstract

Psychological capital refers to one's positive psychological resources, which consist of self-efficacy, hope, optimism, and resilience, and psychological capital has been recognized as an important resource for organizational behavior and effectiveness. This study aimed to test the impact of psychological capital on students' learning in an academic context, and structural models were proposed to test the relationship among students' psychological capital, learning empowerment, and engagement. Data were collected from 490 college students, and structural equation modeling analysis was employed. The results indicated that college students' psychological capital had a significant positive relationship with learning empowerment, and learning empowerment fully mediated the relationship between psychological capital and engagement. In summary, the benefits of psychological capital in the academic domain were identified, and the implications for promoting psychological capital and engagement were discussed based on the findings. (C) 2016 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.