Psychological capital, burnout, and quality of work life: evidence from Vietnam

UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Hong Mai PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL, BURNOUT, AND QUALITY OF WORK LIFE: EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2016 UNIVERSITY OF ECONOMICS HO CHI MINH CITY International School of Business Nguyen Hong Mai PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL, BURNOUT, AND QUALITY OF WORK LIFE: EVIDENCE FROM VIETNAM MASTER OF BUSINESS (Honours) SUPERVISOR: Dr Nguyen Thi Mai Trang Ho Chi Minh City – Year 2016 Acknowledgement I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Dr Nguyen Thi Mai Trang for the continuous support of my research, for her patience, motivation, and immense knowledge Her guidance helped me in all the time of research and writing of this study In addition, I would like to thank my family and my friends for supporting me spiritually throughout writing this study Therefore, I dedicate this work as a gift to them all Abstract The present study investigates the impacts of psychological capital on burnout and quality of work life of employees in Vietnam The study based on positive organizational behavior theory to propose a model in which psychological capital has impacts on burnout and quality of work life This research also examines the roles of burnout in quality of work life The model was tested with a sample of 302 employees working for firms in Ho Chi Minh City by means of structural equation modeling The results show that the proposed model fits the data well and all hypotheses were supported The test confirms that psychological capital has positive impacts on quality of work life and negative impacts on burnout of employees These findings verify the importance of psychological capital in work and lives in a transitioning market Hence, psychological capital is important for enhancing employee’s quality of work life and reducing job burnout In addition, firms should pay attention to this type of capital in their recruiting, training and career development programs Keywords psychological capital, quality of work life, burnout, Vietnam TABLE OF CONTENTS ACKNOWLEDGEMENT ABSTRACT TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES LIST OF TABLES INTRODUCTION LITERATURE REVIEW AND HYPOTHESIS 2.1 Conceptual model 2.2 Psychological capital 2.3 Burnout 11 2.4 Quality of work life 12 2.5 Moderating effects of demographics 15 METHODOLOGY 16 3.1 Design and Sample 16 3.2 Measurement 19 3.3 Measurement refinement 22 DATA ANALYSIS AND RESULT 23 4.1 Measurement validation 23 4.2 Psychological capital 24 4.3 Burnout 24 4.4 Quality of work life 25 4.5 Saturated model 28 4.6 Hypothesis testing 31 DISCUSSION 31 5.1 Implications 32 5.2 Limitations and directions for future research 34 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1: Conceptual model Figure 2: Structural results (standardized estimates) 30 LIST OF TABLES Table 1: Sample characteristics 18 Table 2: Measurement scale 21 Table 3: Means, standard deviations, and standardized CFA loadings of items 26 Table 4: Unstandardized structural paths in the model 29 Introduction In today’s world, one of the fundamental strategic parts of an organization is human resource Human resource can increase the resource capability of an organization in order to meet its objectives and for future growth (Armstrong, 2010) Human is also one of the most significant functions in economic productivity (Gavin & Mason, 2004) In order to get through the tough business environment and maintain sustainable growth, firms need to find out new methods to human resource management (Luthans, Norman, Avolio & Avey, 2008) Researchers have focused on two components of the working people in recent years (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2012) The first component is the positive organizational behavior and its derivative psychological capital, which is described as an individual’s psychological state of development (Luthans et al., 2008) and the quality of work life is the second component (Sirgy, 2006; Wright & Cropanzano, 2004) Researchers show that there is a relationship between psychological capital and quality of work life (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2012; Nguyen, Nguyen & Minh, 2014) and a relationship between psychological capital and burnout (Luo & Hao, 2010; Luthans, Luthans & Luthans, 2004) Nevertheless, little information remains on the relationships between psychological capital, quality of work life, and burnout, notably in developing countries Moreover, the role of psychological capital and quality of work life of staff members has not gained much awareness by researchers in developing nations like Vietnam (Nguyen & Nguyen, 2012; Nguyen, Nguyen & Minh, 2014) Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate the roles of psychological capital in quality of work life and burnout of employees in Vietnam In addition, this research also investigates the moderating roles of age and gender in the relationships between psychological capital, quality of work life, and burnout In the 1990s, Vietnam started to build its economy after many years of war and post-war readjustment Highly skilled workforce is required during the process of change toward a market-oriented economy and integration into the global economic main stream However, it is very challenging for Vietnam’s employers to attract and retain qualified employees (Bodewig, Badiani-Magnusson & Macdonald, 2014) Therefore, understanding the relationship between employee psychological capital, burnout and quality of work life will help firms in designing appropriate policies for staffs and will allow them to recruit qualified people All of this could result in a happier and healthier workforce leading to a healthier, more successful and profitable organization This study is organized around the following key points: introduction; literature review and hypotheses; research method, data analysis, and results; discussion and implications; limitations and directions for future research Literature review and hypotheses 2.1 Conceptual model Figure proposes a conceptual model clarifying roles of psychological capital in burnout and quality of work life, the model proposes that psychological capital of employees will have negative impacts on burnout and positive impacts on quality of work life In addition, burnout will have negative impacts on quality of work life of staff members This study also examines the moderating effects of demographic characteristics (age and gender) on the relationships between psychological capital, quality of work life, and burnout Demographics  Gender  Age H4ab Burnout Psychological Capital H2 Quality of Work Life Figure Conceptual model Support information Covariances and correlations between constructs Psychological capital →Burnout Burnout→QWL Psychological capital →QWL Covariance -.0.182 Estimate Standard error 0.091 -0.283 0.341 0.085 0.087 41 Correlation -0.408 0.836 -0.591 t-value 2.67 Support information Questionnaire (English Version) Dear Sir/Madam, I am Nguyen Hong Mai, a student of Master Program of University of Economics Ho Chi Minh City I am undertaking the research to investigate psychological capital and quality of work life of Vietnamese employees It takes you only to minutes to finish questionnaires Although your answers are meaningful for my research, your participation in this survey is entirely voluntary Your personal information will be kept confidentially and not be disclosed If you have concerns or questions about this study, please contact me with email address:mainguyen1012@gmail.com, or phone number: 0935673888 Part A Screening Questions Are you currently employed? If your answer is No, you can stop your work here Thank you for your time in completing this question If your answer is Yes, please continue answering the questions in part B Part B Main Questions To what extent you agree with each of the following statements, please indicate your answer by using the following 7-point scale where: = Strongly Disagree, = Disagree, = Somewhat Disagree, = Neither Agree or Disagree, = Somewhat Agree, = Agree, = Strongly Agree 42 Strongly Disagree Strongly Agree At the present time, I am energetically pursuing my goals in work There are a lot of ways around any problem that I am facing in work now I can think many ways to reach my current goals in work In uncertain times in work, I usually expect the best I always expect things go to my way Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me 7 I quickly get over and recover from being startled in work I am generous with my colleagues I get over my anger at someone reasonably quickly 10 I feel confident of analyzing a longterm problem to find a solution in work 11 I feel confident of presenting my work area in meetings with senior Management 12 I feel confident of contacting people outside the company 13 I feel confident of presenting information to a group of colleagues 14 My job provides good medical benefits I am satisfied with what I’m getting paid for my work 7 16 My job does well for my family 17 I have good friends at work 18 Away from work, I have enough time to enjoy other things in life 15 43 19 I feel appreciated at work 20 I feel that my job allows me to realize my full potential 21 My job allows me to sharpen my professional skills 22 My job helps me develop my creativity Please rate how true each statement is for you, indicate your answer using the following 7-point scale where: = Never, = Almost never, = Infrequently, = Sometimes, = Quite frequently, = Regularly, = Always Never Always I feel emotionally drained by my work I feel used up at the end of a day at the company I feel tired when I get up in the morning and I have to go to work Working is really a strain for me I Feel burned out from my work I have become less interested in my work since my join in the company 7 I have become less enthusiastic about my work I’ve become more cynical about the use of my work I doubt the significance of my work 44 10 I can efficiently solve the problems that arise in my work 11 I believe that I make an effective contribution to the company 12 In my opinion, I am a good employee 13 I feel stimulated when I reach my work goals 14 I learned many interesting things during my work 15 During working I feel confident that I am effective in getting things done Part C Personal information Please provide some information to classify the survey group Your age: – 25 – 45 – 35 Your gender: Your education: Degree 45 Tenure (Years of work at current organization): – months – 10 years – years – years Position level Junior Staff Manager Senior Staff Senior Management Your specialization: chnology Media/Communications Type of current firm: State – owned company – stock company Private company – venture company 46 Size of current firm: – 300 employees Thank you for your co-operation in completing this questionnaire! 47 Support information 3.Questionnaire (Vietnamese Version) Kính chào Anh/Chị, tơi tên Nguyễn Hồng Mai, học viên cao học Trường Đại học Kinh Tế TP Hồ Chí Minh Tôi nghiên cứu VỐN TÂM LÝ VÀ CHẤT LƯỢNG CUỘC SỐNG LÀM VIỆC Rất mong Anh/ Chị dành khoảng 3-5 phút để trả lời Phiếu khảo sát Mặc dù câu trả lời Anh/ Chị quan trọng nghiên cứu tôi, nhiên việc tham gia khảo sát hoàn tồn khơng bắt buộc Tơi cam kết đảm bảo thơng tin Anh/Chị cung cấp giữ bí mật sử dụng cho nghiên cứu Tác giả sẵn lòng hồi đáp Anh/Chị qua email: mainguyen1012@gmail.com điện thoại 0935673888 trình thực khảo sát có nhu cầu tham khảo kết khảo sát Phần A Câu hỏi gạn lọc Hiện bạn có làm khơng? Nếu câu trả lời bạn khơng xin vui lịng dừng bảng câu hỏi Cám ơn bạn dành thời gian hoàn thành câu hỏi Nếu câu trả lời bạn có xin vui lịng tiếp tục phần B Phần B Câu hỏi Bạn đồng ý tới mức độ với câu hỏi sau đây, xin cho biết câu trả lời bạn cách sử dụng thang đo quy ước sau : = Hoàn toàn không đồng ý, = Rất không đồng ý, = Không đồng ý, = Phân vân, = Đồng ý, = Rất đồng ý, = Hoàn tồn đồng ý 48 Hồn tồn khơng đồng ý Hoàn toàn đồng ý Tại thời điểm tại, hăng hái theo đuổi mục tiêu công việc Tơi ln nghĩ có nhiều cách giải cho khó khăn khơng lường hết cơng việc Tơi nghĩ nhiều cách để đạt mục tiêu công việc Khi gặp vấn đề khó khăn công việc, kỳ vọng điều tốt Tôi kỳ vọng thứ suôn sẻ mong muốn Nhìn chung, tơi kỳ vọng điều tốt xảy đến với 7 Tơi nhanh chóng vượt qua vươn lên khó khăn cơng việc Tôi ln nhiệt tình giúp đỡ đồng nghiệp Tơi khơng giận lâu 7 10 Trong công việc, tơi cảm thấy tự tin việc phân tích tìm giải pháp cho vấn đề 11 Tôi cảm thấy tự tin trình bày vấn đề chun mơn với ban quản lý cấp cao 12 Tôi cảm thấy tự tin giao tiếp với đối tác bên ngồi cơng ty 13 Tôi cảm thấy tự tin trình bày thơng tin với đồng nghiệp 14 15 Công việc cung cấp phúc lợi y tế tốt Tơi hài lịng với mức lương 16 Công việc tốt cho gia đình tơi 17 Tơi có người bạn tốt nơi làm việc 49 18 Ngồi cơng việc, tơi có đủ thời gian để tận hưởng điều khác sống 19 Tôi cảm thấy đánh giá cao cơng việc 20 Công việc giúp tơi nhận tiềm 21 Công việc cho phép nâng cao kỹ chuyên môn 22 Công việc giúp phát triển khả sáng tạo Vui lòng chọn câu trả lời bạn đồng ý với câu hỏi sau cách sử dụng thang đo quy ước sau: = Không bao giờ, = Hầu không bao giờ, = Hiếm khi, = Đôi khi, =Khá thường xuyên, = Thường xuyên, = Luôn Không Luôn Burnout: Exhaustion Tôi cảm thấy tinh thần kiệt quệ công việc Tơi cảm thấy bị tận dụng lực vào cuối ngày công ty Tôi cảm thấy mệt mỏi thức dậy vào môĩ buổi sáng phải làm Làm việc thực sự căng thẳng Tôi cảm thấy kiệt sức công việc 7 Tôi trở nên tâm đến công việc từ gia nhập công ty 7 Tơi trở nên nhiệt tình với công việc Tơi trở nên hồi nghi quyền làm chủ cơng việc Tơi hồi nghi tầm quan trọng công việc 50 10 Tơi giải vấn đề nảy sinh công việc hiệu 11 Tôi tin có đóng góp tích cực cho cơng ty 12 Tôi nghĩ nhân viên tốt 13 Tôi cảm thấy hào hứng đạt mục tiêu công việc 14 Tôi học nhiều điều thú vị công việc 15 Trong công việc, tự tin giải cơng việc hiệu Phần C Thông tin cá nhân Xin Anh/ Chị cho biết số thông tin sau để phục vụ cho việc phân loại nhóm khảo sát Độ tuổi: – 25 – 45 – 35 >45 Giới tính: ữ Trình độ học vấn ọc phổ thông ẳng ạc sĩ ến sĩ ại học Thời gian làm việc công ty 51 – tháng – 10 năm – năm – năm Cấp bậc Trưởng phòng ản lý cấp cao Chun ngành: ế tốn/Tài ệ thong tin ự ếp thị ục/Đào tạo ịch vụ khách hàng ệ thuật/Viễn thơng/Truyề Loại hình cơng ty tại: ớc ổ phần nội ổ phần Quy mô công ty tại: 52 300 nhân viên – 300 nhân viên -CẢM ƠN ANH/CHỊ ĐÃ THAM GIA KHẢO SÁT - Support information Guidelines for In-depth Interview Respondents’ information 53 The respondents Original Comments measurement scales Final measurement scales Hope Dinh Thuy Xuan At the present time, I Trang – 27 – am energetically Human Resource pursuing my goals Specialist The interviewee suggested adding the word “in work” help the readers understand easily this sentence At the present time, I am energetically pursuing my goals in work Dinh Thuy Xuan There are a lot of ways Trang – 27 – around any problem Human Resource that I am facing now Specialist The interviewee suggested adding the word “in work” help the readers understand easily this sentence There are a lot of ways around any problem that I am facing in work now Dinh Thuy Xuan I can think many ways Trang – 27 – to reach my current Human Resource goals Specialist The interviewee suggested adding the word “in work” help the readers understand easily this sentence I can think many ways to reach my current goals in work Optimisim Dinh Thuy Xuan Trang – 27 – Human Resource Specialist In uncertain times, I usually expect the best The interviewee suggested adding the word “in work” help the readers understand easily this sentence In uncertain times in work, I usually expect the best Phạm Thị Khánh Ngọc – 28 Accountant Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me than bad With this sentence, the author needed to delete the phrase “than bad” to shorten the sentence Overall, I expect more good things to happen to me I quickly get over and recover from being startled The interviewee suggested adding the word “in work” help the readers understand easily this sentence I quickly get over and recover from being startled in work The interviewee suggested adding the word “in work” I feel confident of analyzing a long-term Resiliency Dinh Thuy Xuan Trang – 27 – Human Resource Specialist Self-efficacy Dinh Thuy Xuan Trang – 27 – Human I feel confident of analyzing a long-term 54 Resource Specialist problem to find a solution help the readers understand easily this sentence problem to find a solution in work My job provides good health benefits All respondents said that they understood the scale Nevertheless, they suggested changing the word “health” to “medical” make this scale clearer and familiar with employees My job provides good medical benefits I have enough time away from work to enjoy other things in life To make this item clearer, Away from work, I have enough time to enjoy other things in life Survival needs Nguyen Thi Cam – 52 Accountant Nguyen Kim Phung – 27 – Marketing Specialist Belonging needs Nguyen Kim Phung – 27 – Marketing Specialist the interviewee suggested that change the phrase “away from work” to the front make the sentence easier to understand Exhaustion Dinh Thuy Xuan Trang – 27 – Human Resource Specialist I feel tired when I get up in the morning and I have to face another day at the company All respondents recommended the researcher to change the phrase “I have to face another day at the company” to “I have to go to work” make this scale more understandable 55 I feel tired when I get up in the morning and I have to go to work