Determining psychological capital in the Department of Community Safety and transport management

Abstract

Psychological capital is a positive state-like capacity that is defined as an individual's positive psychological state of development and is characterized by "having confidence (self-efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future; persevering towards goals and when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to succeed and when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and even beyond (resilience) to attain success" (Luthans & Youssef, 2007:3). The purpose of this study is to determine the level of psychological capital in the Department of Community Safety and Transport Management. There were 500 full-time employees who willingly participated freely in the research. About 38% were between 25 and 35 of age, 35 % between ages of 36 and 45 and 17% between 46 and 55. Of the participants 76% were in non-managerial position and 24% in a supervisory position. Psychological capital was measured with the PCQ-12. The questionnaire comprises four sub-scales with equal weight: hope, self-efficacy, resilience and optimism. Data was analysed using SPSS v 22 statistical analysis programme. The findings of the study revealed that there is a positive and low correlation between efficacy and hope, and a positive and moderate correlation between efficacy and resilience.