THE IMPACT OF PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL ON ACADEMIC PERFORMANCE OF UNDERGRADUATES: A STUDY IN RAJARATA UNIVERSITY OF SRI LANKA

Abstract

Psychological capital has been receiving increasing attention of global academia as it is deemed as an important controller of human performance. In business management it has extensively been explored, however no significant attention has been received to sightsee how the concept could be effectively used to swell academic performance of students. The purpose of this paper is to examine the impact of psychological capital on academic performance of undergraduates of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka. The data were collected from a sample of 300 students in all faculties of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka using the stratified sampling method through a self-administrated questionnaire. Results were drawn using bivariate correlation and linear regression analyses. Results revealed that optimism, resilience, self-efficacy has positive significant impact on academic performance of the undergraduates of Rajarata University of Sri Lanka, albeit the impact of hope on academic performance was negative and insignificant. The research provides important information about the impact of psychological capital on academic performance of undergraduates. Although the impact of psychological capital on performance has been investigated in the other contexts, research in Sri Lankan context is scant. Therefore, this study provides insights particularly to the present context might be also valid in Sri Lankan University Context. The study concluded that, in order to increase the academic performance it is essential to enhance the resilience, optimism, self-efficacy of the students.