Psychological Capital and Affective Organizational Commitment Among Employees of the Handloom Industry in Sri Lanka: The Mediator Role of Work Engagement

Abstract

The study examined the effect of psychological capital on work engagement and employees’ affective organizational commitment of employees in the weaving centres of the Handloom sector in Sri Lanka. Further, it attempts to find out the mediator role of work engagement in the relationship between psychological capital and affective organizational commitment. The study expands the literature on relevance by contextualizing it in one of Sri Lanka's indigenous sectors of the Handloom industry based on the Conservation of Resources (COR) Theory and the Job Demand- Resources (JD-R) Theory. Data was collected from 361 employees in the Handloom industry in Sri Lanka. The quantitative analytical technique was employed in this study through Smart Partial Least Square - Structural Equation Modelling. The study revealed that psychological capital has positively related to affective organizational commitment and work engagement, the association between psychological capital and affective organizational commitment was mediated by work engagement. This research makes a novel contribution that work engagement mediates the association between employees’ affective organizational commitment and psychological capital dimensions of hope, efficacy, resilience and optimism. The study contributes to the body of knowledge on both the JD-R theory and COR theory by expanding the theoretical understanding of the mediation effect of work engagement in the relationship between psychological capital and affective organizational commitment.