The impact of psychological capital on job performance and cynicism: The moderator effect of cultural tightness-looseness

In this study, it is aimed to determine the impact of psychological capital, which brings a new perspective and a new breathe into empowering the development of the strengths of the employees, on job performance and cynicism, and the moderator effect of perceived cultural tightness-looseness within the organizational culture on the relationship between psychological capital & job performance, and psychological capital & cynicism, and also the interactions of all these variables among themselves. In the study, quantitative method was used as a research approach; relational and causal screening was used as a research pattern. Data through questionnaires were collected by conveniency method from total of 393 employees working in various ministries and affiliated/related institutions, state and foundation universities, and private sector located in Ankara, İstanbul and Izmir. In the research, correlation, regression, one way ANOVA, and path analysis within the context of structural equation modeling were conducted by using SPSS 20.0, PROCESS (SPSS Macro 2.16.3) and, AMOS 21.0 softwares. The results obtained show that as the psychological capital of the employees increases the job performance increases as well, meanwhile cynicism decreases. During this process, there has been no sign of moderating effect of perceived cultural tightness-looseness within the organizational culture on the relationship between psychological capital & job performance, whereas there is a clear moderating effect of perceived cultural tightness-looseness on the relationship between psychological capital & cynicism (where perceived cultural tightness increases the effects of cynicism, perceived cultural looseness decreases the effects of cynicism). In addition to that, the psychological capital and the perceived cultural tightness-looseness of the employees are influenced by demographic variables such as the age of the employees and the length of employment significantly. In this study, it is intended to contribute to the field of organizational behavior by investigating the impact of psychological capital on important organizational outcome variables such as job performance and cynicism, and the moderator effect of perceived cultural tightness-looseness within the organizational culture on the relationship between psychological capital & job performance, and psychological capital & cynicism for the first time. The perceived cultural tightness-looseness as being the moderator of this research is important in terms of showing that the persons can show different behaviors and attitudes by being influenced by the organization and working environment in which they are involved.