Original Research

Psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees in South Africa

Janet C. Simons, Johanna H. Buitendach
SA Journal of Industrial Psychology | Vol 39, No 2 | a1071 | DOI: https://doi.org/10.4102/sajip.v39i2.1071 | © 2013 Janet C. Simons, Johanna H. Buitendach | This work is licensed under CC Attribution 4.0
Submitted: 20 September 2012 | Published: 19 November 2013

About the author(s)

Janet C. Simons, Department of Psychology, Howard College, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa
Johanna H. Buitendach, Department of Psychology, Howard College, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Abstract

Orientation: The development of psychological capital amongst call centre employees could have an impact on positive work-related attitudes and behaviour; such as work engagement and organisational commitment.

Research purpose: The purpose of the research was to determine the relationship between psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees; and further, to determine whether psychological capital and work engagement hold predictive value for the organisational commitment of call centre employees.

Motivation for the study: There is a gap in research in understanding and enabling positive resource capacities in highly stressful work contexts such as call centres.

Research design, approach and method: A cross-sectional survey design was used. A sample of 106 call centre employees from a South African organisation participated in the research. The measuring instruments included a demographic questionnaire, the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ), the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale (UWES) and the Organisational Commitment Questionnaire (OCQ).

Main findings: Significant positive relationships were found between psychological capital, work engagement and organisational commitment. The results showed work engagement as being the only significant predictor of organisational commitment.

Practical/managerial implications: Call centre employers need to develop and implement workplace interventions that would increase the psychological capital of call centre employees.

Contribution/value-add: The research findings will benefit both call centre employees and management. The study highlighted the importance of the role of optimism as a subdimension of psychological capital in developing work engagement and organisational commitment amongst call centre employees.


Keywords

Psychological capital; Positive psychology; Work engagement; Organisational commitment

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Crossref Citations

1. THE ROLE OF QUALITY OF WORK LIFE AS MEDIATOR: PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AND WORK ENGAGEMENT
Laila Meiliyandrie Indah Wardani, Muhamad Syafiq Anwar
Humanities & Social Sciences Reviews  vol: 7  issue: 6  first page: 447  year: 2019  
doi: 10.18510/hssr.2019.7670