The relationship between self-determination and job involvement with the mediating effect of psychological capital

DOI: 10.5176/2251-2349_HRM&PD15.13

Authors: Dr. Angela Shin-yih Chen and Miss Yi-Ching Lin

Abstract:

The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of an individual’s self-determination and psychological capital (PsyCap) on their job involvement. We obtained data from managers who were part of an executive education program at universities in the major cities of Taiwan. We conducted a pilot study of our questionnaire with 29 EMBA students to ensure our questionnaire was reliable and valid. Of the 600 paper-based questionnaires that were distributed and we received 303 valid copies (50.50{6e6090cdd558c53a8bc18225ef4499fead9160abd3419ad4f137e902b483c465}). We used hierarchical regression to analyze the data and controlled for the gender, age, tenure in current organization, tenure in management position, and education. After analyzing the effects of self-determination on PsyCap and job involvement and the mediating effect of PsyCap on the relationship between self-determination and job involvement, the results showed that self-determination had a positive effect on job involvement. In addition, we found that self-determination positively influenced PsyCap, and PsyCap mediated the relationship between self-determination and job involvement. Our findings suggest that an individual’s strong intrinsic motivation, self-determination, increased their PsyCap, which may predict their job involvement. We also provided some implications for human resource management.

Paper type: Research Paper

Keywords: self-determination, psychological capital, job involvement