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Journal of Happiness StudiesAn Interdisciplinary Forum onSubjective Well-Being ISSN 1389-4978 J Happiness StudDOI 10.1007/s10902-014-9522-7

Family Emotional Support, PositivePsychological Capital and Job SatisfactionAmong Chinese White-Collar Workers

Sylvia Y. C. L. Kwok, Leveda Cheng &Daniel F. K. Wong

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RESEARCH PAPER

Family Emotional Support, Positive PsychologicalCapital and Job Satisfaction Among ChineseWhite-Collar Workers

Sylvia Y. C. L. Kwok • Leveda Cheng • Daniel F. K. Wong

� Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht 2014

Abstract Job satisfaction plays an important role in one’s well-being. It is therefore

crucial to explore ways to increase job satisfaction. Yet, existing literature mainly focused

on the effect of external factors when studying job satisfaction and provided limited

knowledge about the influence of ontogenic and microsystemic factors on job satisfaction.

Integrating the ecological and positive psychological perspectives, the present study aims

to examine the mediating role of positive psychological capital (PsyCap), namely, hope,

optimism, self-efficacy and resilience, on the relationship between family emotional

support and job satisfaction among Chinese white-collar workers. The present study

recruited 227 white-collar workers in Hong Kong, China. A cross-sectional survey was

conducted to assess the relationship among PsyCap, family emotional support and job

satisfaction. Among the four PsyCap constructs, hope, optimism and self-efficacy were

significantly associated with job satisfaction. Family emotional support was also signifi-

cantly related to job satisfaction. However, the effect of family emotional support on job

satisfaction was mediated by optimism and self-efficacy. Family emotional support posi-

tively influenced one’s levels of optimism and self-efficacy, which in turn led to greater job

satisfaction. The current findings provide evidence of the impact of family emotional

support and personal PsyCap on job satisfaction, as well as the mediating roles of optimism

and self-efficacy. It also sheds light on the possible application of ecological and positive

psychological concepts to enhance workers’ job satisfaction so as to improve their well-

being.

Keywords Job satisfaction � Family emotional support � Positive psychological

capital � Chinese white-collar workers

S. Y. C. L. Kwok (&) � L. Cheng � D. F. K. WongDepartment of Applied Social Studies, City University of Hong Kong, Tat Chee Avenue, Jiulong,Hong Konge-mail: scyckwok@cityu.edu.hk

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J Happiness StudDOI 10.1007/s10902-014-9522-7

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1 Introduction

Job satisfaction has always been a topic of interest in industrial and organisational psy-

chology. It has been extensively studied due to its practical implications on organisational

behaviour (Ahmad et al. 2010). Job satisfaction is a multi-dimensional construct which

incorporates both cognitive and affective elements (Locke 1969). On one hand, the cog-

nitive approach stresses that job satisfaction is determined by the degree to which one’s

physical and psychological needs are perceived as being fulfilled on the job (Porter 1962;

Wolf 1970). According to Locke (1969), job satisfaction is derived from the discrepancy

between what an individual wants or values in a job and what he or she actually has in a

job. On the other hand, the affective approach suggests that job satisfaction is the feeling an

individual has for his or her job in different aspects, such as the nature of work, co-workers,

supervisors or subordinates and the pay (Spector 1997; Aziri 2011). All these definitions

from various perspectives make job satisfaction a rather complex and hard-to-assess social

attitude. Preliminary studies have focused on the cognitive nature of job satisfaction and

adopted the cognitive perspective as the measurement approach (Spector 1997). Only until

recently, Weiss and Weiss (2002) argued that affect and cognition exert distinct influences

on job satisfaction and that the affective influences have been neglected (Judge and Ilies

2004). Hence, the present study adopted the affective approach as a definition of job

satisfaction, as suggested by Spector and Aziri.

Job satisfaction is very important for organisational success and competitiveness

because of its particular impact on company functioning and productivity. A high level of

job satisfaction can boost employee morale and productivity (Spector 1997). On the other

hand, low job satisfaction escalates employee turnover (Larrabee et al. 2003). Job satis-

faction is therefore vital for a healthy company as a high turnover rate and absenteeism

may affect the functioning of a company negatively. Besides the impact on the overall

business organisations, job satisfaction plays a critical role in personal well-being. Job

satisfaction is often linked to the achievement of other goals and the feeling of fulfilment

whereas job dissatisfaction has been found to be associated with psychological problems,

such as anxiety and depression (Aziri 2011; Spector 1997). In addition, job satisfaction is

closely related to happiness and satisfaction with life in general as they are all categorised

under subjective well-being (Zelenski et al. 2008). In fact, job satisfaction has become the

most common means of measuring the happiness component of the happy–productive

worker hypothesis in organisational research (Wright and Cropanzano 2000). With the

increasing importance of work to individuals nowadays, job satisfaction has been found to

be positively related to life satisfaction (Judge and Watanabe 1993).

1.1 Job Satisfaction from the Ecological and Positive Psychological Perspective

Owing to the importance of job satisfaction on company functioning and worker well-

being, it will be beneficial to study the underlying factors that contribute to job satisfaction.

While many studies focused on the effect of external or extrinsic factors like pay, co-

workers, and working environment on job satisfaction (Lee 1998), some studies looked at

the internal or intrinsic factors, such as personal beliefs, personality traits, and psycho-

logical capital (Judge and Klinger 2008). Nevertheless, very few studies have addressed the

factors affecting job satisfaction specifically at the ontogenic and microsystemic levels.

From an ecological perspective, job satisfaction can be studied at both ontogenic and

microsystemic levels (Belsky 1980). Ontogenic factors refer to the individual or intra-

personal characteristics such as personal beliefs, psychological functioning, coping

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strategies and personal resources. Microsystemic factors are variables in the immediate

settings where an individual lives, including family, school, etc.

With reference to positive psychology, positive subjective experiences and positive

individual traits help improve an individual’s quality of life and decrease the incidence of

psychopathology (Seligman and Csikszentmihalyi 2000). Indeed, people with positive core

self-evaluations perceived more intrinsic value in their work (Judge et al. 1998). Through

building strengths and competencies, an individual may overcome challenges at work more

easily and perceive the job as more fulfilling and satisfying. Positive personal traits or

positive psychological capital thus act as internal factors, influencing job satisfaction at the

ontogenic level. Serving as external factors, social support from family, friends, co-

workers, and supervisors influences job satisfaction at the microsystemic level, with greater

social support leading to higher job satisfaction (Park and Choi 2009; Bakker et al. 2006;

Baruch-Feldman et al. 2002). Among all sources of support, family support is particularly

effective in buffering the effects of work stress from negative work-related outcomes like

burnout, as it promotes positive affect and the sense of self-worth (Cohen and Wills 1985).

This implied that factors beyond the workplace also have great influence on work. Con-

cerning this notion, the current study investigates positive psychological capital and family

support as two variables at the ontogenic and microsystemic level and examines their

unique contribution to as well as interacting effects on job satisfaction.

1.2 Job Satisfaction Studies in Chinese Societies

Hong Kong people have much longer working hours than people in Western countries

(Labour Department 2012). According to the 2012 Price and Earnings Report, Hong Kong

came in fifth in terms of longest working hours over a year among 72 countries, with an

average of 2,296 h per year (Union Bank of Switzerland 2012). In fact, working hours have

increased drastically in Hong Kong from 1995 to 2004 (Lee et al. 2007). Long working

hours is often seen as a commitment to the job in many Asian countries (Chandra 2012).

Yet, based on the normative data collected in East Asia, Europe, North America and Latin

America from 1990 to 2003, East Asia ranked the lowest regarding the level of job

satisfaction as well as its correlates such as salary/pay, benefits, and management effec-

tiveness (Brockerhoff and Andreassi 2011). Thus, research examining job satisfaction is of

particular importance in a work-oriented city like Hong Kong.

Consistent with Western findings, studies conducted in Hong Kong revealed a close link

between job satisfaction and worker subjective well-being (Spector et al. 2004; Leung et al.

2011). A low level of job satisfaction may have detrimental effect on workers’ psycho-

logical and physical well-being. It is therefore essential to understand how job satisfaction

can be enhanced. Tang and Yeung (1999) found that perceived stress from students due to

misbehaviour and undesirable attitudes, pressure from significant others such as supervi-

sors and inspectors, and a lack of recognition of good work had a significantly negative

impact on job satisfaction of high school teachers in Hong Kong. Similarly, Ge et al.

(2011) conducted a cross-sectional survey with 2,100 Chinese community health workers

and reported that stress and burnout were important predictors of intrinsic and extrinsic job

satisfactions. Other job-related factors as well as worker demographic characteristics also

have great impact on the job satisfaction of the workers in Hong Kong. For instance, nurses

in Hong Kong treated autonomy, professional status, and pay as the most important factors

that affected their job satisfaction (Lee 1998). In another study, Lam et al. (2001) found

that education level had a significant impact on job satisfaction in the hospitality industry

in Hong Kong, with well-educated hotel workers reported having lower job satisfaction.

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They also found that pay was the most important factor attributing to job satisfaction,

followed by promotion prospects.

Although the above studies have implications for the educational management policy

making, nursing and community health administration, hotel management, as well as

workers’ personal well-being, such implications are restricted to and only applicable within

the education, community health, nursing, and hospitality sectors. Given the large popu-

lation of white-collar workers (Lui 2013), workers in professions other than education,

community health, nursing, and hospitality should also be taken into consideration in order

to give a more comprehensive picture of job satisfaction in Hong Kong.

1.3 Positive Psychological Capital and Job Satisfaction

The positive personal constructs of an individual can be categorised as the positive psy-

chological capital or PsyCap (Luthans et al. 2004). The four positive constructs that make

up PsyCap are hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience. Emerged from the concept of

positive organisational behaviour (POB), PsyCap is defined as ‘‘an individual’s positive

psychological state of development and is characterized by: (1) having confidence (self-

efficacy) to take on and put in the necessary effort to succeed at challenging tasks; (2)

making a positive attribution (optimism) about succeeding now and in the future; (3)

persevering toward goals and, when necessary, redirecting paths to goals (hope) in order to

succeed; and (4) when beset by problems and adversity, sustaining and bouncing back and

even beyond (resilience) to attain success’’ (Luthans et al. 2007b, p. 3).

PsyCap used to be a term mentioned in the economics literature for its relationships

with wages, performance, and productivity (Goldsmith et al. 1998; Kossek et al. 2003).

Only until recently, PsyCap is studied in a more social and psychological aspect in terms of

its relationship with job satisfaction and personal well-being (Luthans et al. 2007a; Cul-

bertson et al. 2010). A meta-analysis has shown that the composite PsyCap construct was

positively associated with desirable work attitudes, like job satisfaction and organisational

commitment. With the general expectancy of success derived from optimism and the belief

in personal abilities derived from efficacy, workers that were high in PsyCap were more

satisfied with their job and committed to the company (Avey et al. 2011). In fact, workers

with higher levels of overall PsyCap performed better at work and had greater job satis-

faction than those who only exhibit one component of PsyCap, i.e. hope, optimism, self-

efficacy, or resilience (Luthans et al. 2007a).

1.3.1 Hope and Job Satisfaction

Hope is a positive motivational state that is ‘‘based on a reciprocally derived sense of

successful (a) agency, which is a goal-oriented energy and (b) pathways, which refers to

the planning to meet goals’’ (Snyder et al. 1991, p. 571). Regarding the relationship

between hope and job satisfaction, existing studies yielded inconsistent findings. In one

study, subordinates of high-hope leaders were significantly more satisfied with their job

than their counterparts (Peterson and Luthans 2003). In another study, Duggleby et al.

(2009) failed to show a significant positive relationship between hope and general job

satisfaction in 64 personal care aides, alias Continuing Care Assistants (CCA). These

contradicting results may be due to the specific job nature and small sample size. Nev-

ertheless, more in-depth research is needed to explore the relationship between hope and

job satisfaction. With hope, people know what they really want and have vision of their

future. Individuals with high hope tend to be more affirmative with their goals and have

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strong determination to achieve them (Snyder 2002; Peterson and Luthans 2003). These

people are also less anxious in stressful situations and are more adaptive to environmental

change. They perceive blockages or problems at work as challenges and learning oppor-

tunities and are hopeful that problems can eventually be solved (Youssef and Luthans

2007). They strive to achieve what they set out to accomplish even in difficult times and

tend to find satisfaction in what they achieve (Froman 2010). People with hopeful thinking

are therefore more likely to feel positive about their job and to attain greater job satis-

faction (Farran et al. 1995). Thus, we hypothesise that hope will be positively related to job

satisfaction.

Hypothesis 1a Hope has a significant and positive effect on job satisfaction.

1.3.2 Optimism and Job Satisfaction

Optimism is ‘‘an attributional style that explains positive events in terms of personal,

permanent, and pervasive causes and negative events in terms of external, temporary, and

situation-specific ones’’ (Youssef and Luthans 2007, p. 778). Youssef and Luthans (2007)

studied the impact of three PsyCap constructs, namely, hope, optimism, and resilience, on

desired work-related employee outcomes including job satisfaction, job performance, and

organisational commitment in 135 Midwestern organisations in the USA. The study

revealed that each of the three PsyCap constructs has significant and positive impact on job

satisfaction. This gave support to the use of PsyCap constructs as contributing variables to

job satisfaction in the present study. Consistent with Youseff and Luthans’ findings, Al-

Mashaan (2003) reported a positive relationship between optimism and job satisfaction in

Kuwait oil workers. Yet, the study sample was constrained to specific jobs and the sample

size was small. Therefore, the generalizability of such finding is tenuous. Based on the

attributional, explanatory function of optimism, optimistic people interpret negative events

as ‘‘external, unstable and specific’’ (Larson and Luthans 2006). In other words, they

attribute negative events and failures to external causes such as people or situational factors

(Seligman 1998). They are optimistic even when facing negative events as they tend to

reframe those events with external, positive elements. Such optimistic explanatory style

will enable them to ‘‘personally take more credit or assume less guilt’’ and guide them to

perceive external, temporary and situational events objectively (Youssef and Luthans 2007,

p. 784). In addition, they tend to believe in positive outcomes in their future (Kluemper

et al. 2009). Hence, they are more likely to have positive feelings towards their life and be

satisfied with their job. Hinging on the previous findings, we hypothesise that optimism

will be positively related to job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 1b Optimism has a significant and positive effect on job satisfaction.

1.3.3 Self-efficacy and Job Satisfaction

Self-efficacy refers to ‘‘an individual’s convictions (or confidence) about his or her abilities

to mobilize the motivation, cognitive resources, and courses of action needed to suc-

cessfully execute a specific task within a given context’’ (Stajkovic and Luthans 1998,

p. 66). Chinese studies that investigated self-efficacy at workplace mainly focused on its

moderating effects, for example, on the relationships among job stressors, strains and work

well-being (Lu et al. 2011; Liu et al. 2011; Siu et al. 2005). As for the Western literature,

Judge et al. (2001) conducted a meta-analysis of 135 studies examining the relationships of

generalised self-efficacy, self-esteem, locus of control and emotional stability to job

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satisfaction. The meta-analytic results revealed moderately strong correlations of the four

traits with job satisfaction, with generalised self-efficacy being the strongest correlate of

job satisfaction. However, in a recent study by Duggleby et al. (2009), no significant

relationship was found between general self-efficacy and job satisfaction. Owing to the

limited Chinese studies and the inconsistent Western findings, the present study aims to

provide a clearer picture of the impact of self-efficacy on job satisfaction in Chinese

workers.

According to Judge et al. (1997), self-efficacy affects job satisfaction through its

association with success at work. Alongside with self-esteem, locus of control and neu-

roticism, self-efficacy is one of the four traits that make up the core self-evaluation, a

higher order construct that represents an individual’s personal feelings of worthiness,

competence and capabilities at work. Self-efficacy, in particular, denotes one’s psycho-

logical belief in his or her ability to be empowered. According to Manojlovich (2007),

psychological empowerment in the workplace may enable workers to be satisfied and more

effective at work. People with high self-efficacy tend to handle difficulties effectively and

persist despite failures (Gist and Mitchell 1992). As a result, they are more likely to

perform well and become satisfied with their jobs. Based on this, we hypothesise that self-

efficacy will be positively related to job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 1c Self-efficacy has a significant and positive effect on of job satisfaction.

1.3.4 Resilience and Job Satisfaction

Resilience is often described as the ability to ‘‘bounce back from adversity, uncertainty,

conflict, failure or even positive change, progress and increased responsibility’’ (Luthans

2002, p. 702). A positive relationship between resilience and job satisfaction has been

observed in different studies (Larson and Luthans 2006; Youssef and Luthans 2007; Matos

et al. 2010). Consistent with the findings in Western literature, Siu et al. (2006) explored

the correlates of resilience among 317 Hong Kong employees of different occupational

groups and found that employees with greater resilience scored higher in job satisfaction.

Although the sample was drawn from various occupational groups in Hong Kong, par-

ticipants were recruited in a seminar on stress management and thus the sample may be

biased towards employees with more stress problems. In spite of that, the findings in both

Western and Chinese literature illustrated that resilience is a good contributing factor to job

satisfaction. As resilient people tend to be more self-confident, assertive, and have a

positive affect (Ryff and Singer 2003), they are more positive about their job and life in

general than those that are less resilient (Mak et al. 2011). Thus, we hypothesise that

resilience will be positively related to job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 1d Resilience has a significant and positive effect on job satisfaction.

1.4 Family Emotional Support and Job Satisfaction

Apart from the positive psychological capital, family factors may also influence workers’

job satisfaction. Family often acts as the primary source of support, such as emotional

sustenance and instrumental assistance, for people outside work (Adams et al. 1996). The

availability of social support, in particular emotional support, helps reduce job-related

strains like job dissatisfaction and workload dissatisfaction. Greater social support has been

found to be associated with less individual strain and greater job satisfaction in American

police officers (Kaufmann and Beehr 1989). Family emotional support was especially

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important to job satisfaction in employed women (King et al. 1995). Family emotional

support may help individuals overcome life challenges and thus enhance their life satis-

faction. Since work is a major component of life for working people, a person who is

satisfied with life in general is likely to be satisfied with his or her job, and vice versa

(Spector 1997). Comparing to instrumental support which can be provided by sources other

than family, emotional support may be a more salient form of support treasured by the

family members (House 1981). Therefore, the present study focuses on examining the role

of family emotional support on Chinese workers’ job satisfaction. Through providing

emotional support, family gives encouragement, understanding, attention, positive regard,

advice and guidance to workers on work-related issues (King et al. 1995). With adequate

family emotional support, work stress may be relieved and workers’ job satisfaction may

be enhanced. Drawing from this, we hypothesise that family emotional support will be

positively related to job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 2 Family emotional support has a significant and positive effect on job

satisfaction.

1.5 Mediating Role of PsyCap Constructs

Given that family emotional support is an external factor in the family domain and job

satisfaction is an individual factor in the work domain, the conceptual link between the two

may not be as simple and direct as some literature suggested. In order for an external factor

to influence individual social attitudes, there may be an important role for a mediating

variable that is specific to the individual. This was supported by Luthans et al.’s work

(2008) where they found that employee PsyCap played a mediating role in the relationship

between supportive organisational climate and employee performance. PsyCap was also

shown to be a mediator between transformational leadership and followers’ job perfor-

mance and satisfaction (Sui et al. 2012), between authentic leadership and work groups’

desired outcomes (Walumbwa et al. 2011), as well as between ethnic identity and the

competence and growth aspects of job attributes performance (Combs et al. 2012). In

addition, the collectivist Hong Kong Chinese often place family or social groups before

individuals. As a result, family plays a key role in their psychological development and

value shaping. Family may influence one’s intrapersonal characteristics and change one’s

social attitudes. Perrewe et al. (1999) found that family-work conflicts had a negative

impact on employee value attainment which in turn jeopardised job satisfaction. Judging

from this, a supportive family may create the positive environment necessary for PsyCap to

flourish and this consequently contributes to job satisfaction. Based on this, we hypothesise

that the PsyCap constructs will serve as an important mediating link between family

emotional support and job satisfaction.

Hypothesis 3 PsyCap constructs significantly mediate the relationship of family emo-

tional support and job satisfaction.

1.6 Significance of the Current Study

To date, research findings on the impact of positive psychological capital or its constructs

and on job satisfaction have been inconclusive. Also, there is a lack of comprehensive,

systematic research investigating the ontogenic and microsystemic factors that contribute

to job satisfaction. Furthermore, many of the existing studies on job satisfaction have been

conducted in Western countries where the cultural context is more individualistic. These

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western-based studies may not be applicable to collectivistic societies as there may be a

difference in the role and value attributed to job satisfaction by people in individualistic

and collectivistic societies. Indeed, it has been found that registered nurses from Western-

individualistic countries like the United States and Australia had greater job satisfaction

than counterparts from Asian-collectivist countries like Hong Kong and Singapore (Chiu

and Kosinski 1999). The traditional Chinese collectivist culture stresses self-denial, non-

assertiveness, avoidance of conflict, and submission to destiny and fate (Bond and Hwang

1986; Chiu and Kosinski 1995; Sahoo et al. 1987). Therefore, Chinese collectivists may

not express or complain when they feel dissatisfied at work. Instead, they would perceive

that nothing could be done and remain unhappy and dissatisfied (Chiu and Kosinski 1999).

Due to the differences in the perceived job satisfaction among Western and Asian workers,

there is a need to study the contributing variables to job satisfaction in Hong Kong. Hence,

the current study aims to explore the relation of family emotional support and positive

psychological capital constructs (hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience) with job

satisfaction, as well as the mediating role of positive psychological capital on the rela-

tionship between family emotional support and job satisfaction, integrating the ecological

and positive psychological perspectives. As previously mentioned, the affective nature of

job satisfaction has been neglected in past literature. The present study thus focuses on

examining the affective nature of job satisfaction. Since a large proportion of the working

population in Hong Kong is white-collar workers, this study is targeted at white-collar

workers from various industries in Hong Kong.

2 Method

2.1 Participants and Procedures

A cross-sectional survey was conducted and a voluntary sample of 227 white-collar

workers was recruited by convenience sampling. Participants were requested to complete a

self-administered questionnaire at their leisure time and return it directly to the investigator

within a designated period of time. A total of 500 questionnaires were distributed and the

return rate was 45 %. The target population was drawn from a diverse array of occupa-

tional groups including services (34 %), manufacturing (20 %), education (13 %), banking

and finance (7 %), engineering (5 %), government (4 %), health care (1 %), and others

(16 %). Participants were 44 % male and 56 % female. The age of the participants ranged

from 25 years to above 51 years. Sixty-nine percent of participants were of the age group

30 years or below. About four-fifth (77 %) of the participants had post-secondary school

education or above. The median monthly income of the participants lies at the range of

HK$10,000 and HK$14,999, which corresponds to the median monthly income in Hong

Kong (Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department 2012). Four-fifth (81 %) of the

participants had a monthly income above HK$10,000 (US$1,290). All participants were

living with at least one family member. Around 70 % of participants were single (Table 1).

These demographic variables were controlled for in this study.

Invitation letters and questionnaires were sent to the recruited organisations in various

occupational groups. Operational consent was sought from the person-in-charge of each

organisation. The purpose of the study was clearly explained in the consent form. It was

stressed that participation was completely voluntary and would not affect the assessment of

work performance. Since the questionnaires were anonymous, individual participants could

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not be identified. Ethical approval from the Ethics Committee of the City University of

Hong Kong was obtained for the study.

2.2 Measures

Both English and Chinese translations of all items were provided in the questionnaire in

order to avoid any misconception on the wordings used in the scales and to ensure that

Table 1 Demographic charac-teristics of participants(N = 227)

Demographic variables Percent

Age

25 years or below 25

26–30 years 44

31–35 years 12

31–40 years 10

41–45 years 4

46–50 years 2

51 years or above 3

Occupation

Manufacturing 20

Banking and finance 7

Education 13

Engineering 5

Health care 1

Service 34

Government 4

Others 16

Education level

No schooling or primary (0–6 years) 2

Lower secondary (7–9 years) 2

Higher secondary (10–13 years) 19

Post-secondary or above (14 years or more) 77

Monthly salary (HK$)

Below $10,000 19

$10,000–$19,999 59

$20,000–$29,999 17

$30,000 or above 5

Number of family members living together

1–3 43

4–6 55

7–10 2

Marital status

Single 70

Married 26

Others (e.g. live together, divorce) 4

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participants could have a thorough understanding of the content. Regarding the Chinese

translation, all items were conceptually translated to Cantonese Chinese based on the

original version of each scale, and were then back-translated to English from Chinese by

two professional translators. Discrepancies between the English and Chinese versions were

evaluated and gradually resolved through a review meeting. The content validity and

cultural relevance of the scales were evaluated by an expert panel that consisted of two

members who had over 5 years’ experience of providing work-place counselling services.

All panel members generally agreed that the test items were valid and culturally relevant.

2.2.1 Index of Job Satisfaction (IJS)

Job satisfaction was measured by the Index of Job Satisfaction (IJS), an 18-item attitude

scale developed by Brayfield and Rothe (1951) that assesses the overall, domain-general

job satisfaction. According to Moorman (1993), IJS is more of an affective rather than

cognitive measure as it assesses the degree to which the respondent is bored, interested

happy, enthusiastic, disappointed, and enjoying work. With an affective orientation, the

scale includes items like ‘‘My job is like a hobby to me’’ and ‘‘I am satisfied with my

present job’’. Participants were asked to rate on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging from

strongly disagree to strongly agree, with 1 representing strongly disagree and 5 repre-

senting strongly agree. All item scores were added up to attain an overall job satisfaction

score. A higher job satisfaction score indicates greater overall job satisfaction, and vice

versa. The scale showed good convergent validity with the five facets of the Job

Descriptive Index, namely, work, pay, promotion, supervision and co-workers (Ironson

et al. 1989). The scale has been previously adopted to assess job satisfaction in Chinese

workers and displayed good predictive validity with task performance (Aryee and Chen

2006). The Cronbach’s alpha reflected that this scale was reliable in the present study

(a = .91).

2.2.2 State Hope Scale

The State Hope Scale was administered to measure the hope level of participants. It is a 6-item

scale developed by Snyder et al. (1996) to assess the agency and pathway of an individual. The

scale consists of two subscales: pathways and agency. Items are rated on an 8-point Likert-

type scale which ranged from definitely false, represented by 1, to definitely true, represented

by 8. Examples of scale items include ‘‘At the present time, I am energetically pursuing my

goals’’ (agency) and ‘‘If I should find myself in a jam, I could think of many ways to get out of

it’’ (pathways). The state hope is derived from the sum of all six item scores, with higher

scores indicating a higher level of hope. The scale demonstrated good convergent validity

with dispositional hope, state self-esteem, state negative affect and state positive affect

(Snyder et al. 1996). It has been used to measure dispositional hope in Hong Kong Chinese

college students and showed good concurrent validity with resilience, self-esteem, and life

satisfaction (Mak et al. 2011). The Cronbach’s alpha for this scale was .89 in the present study

(pathways subscale: a = .84; agency subscale: a = .79).

2.2.3 Life Orientation Test (LOT)

Optimism was measured by the Life Orientation Test (LOT) in this study. Developed by

Scheier and Carver (1985), this test is a 12-item instrument with a 5-point Likert-type scale

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ranging from strongly disagree, represented by 1, to strongly agree, represented by 5. It

measures the state-like nature of optimism. Examples of scale items include ‘‘It’s easy for

me to relax’’ and ‘‘It was important for me to keep busy.’’ A higher score indicates a higher

level of optimism. The scale had good concurrent validity with positive affect and negative

affect among Hong Kong Chinese university students (Lai et al. 1998). The reliability of

the scale in this study was moderate (a = .69). This is consistent with past research

(a = .56 in a Chinese sample; see Luthans et al. 2005). When combined with other PsyCap

constructs (hope, self-efficacy and resilience), the reliability of the overall positive psy-

chological capital was very high in this study (a = .94).

2.2.4 Self-efficacy Scale (SES)

To measure the level of self-efficacy, the Self-efficacy Scale (Sherer et al. 1982) was used.

This scale was made up of two subscales, general self-efficacy and social self-efficacy.

Both subscales showed good construct validity with personality measures like locus of

control, personal control, social desirability, ego strength, interpersonal competence and

self-esteem (Sherer et al. 1982). The two subscales were included in the present study as a

measure of self-efficacy. The whole scale consists of 23 items (17 items on general self-

efficacy, 6 items on social self-efficacy) and is rated on a 5-point Likert-type scale ranging

from strongly disagree, represented by 1, to strongly agree, represented by 5. Examples of

scale items include ‘‘I am a self-reliant person’’ (general self-efficacy) and ‘‘When I’m

trying to become friends with someone who seems uninterested at first, I don’t give up very

easily’’ (social self-efficacy). The overall self-efficacy score is derived from the sum of all

item scores. Higher overall scores indicate greater self-efficacy. The scale demonstrated

good predictive validity with quality of life in a Chinese sample (Hampton 2001). The

scale had fairly good reliability in this study (overall self-efficacy: a = .87; general self-

efficacy: a = .84; social self-efficacy: a = .69).

2.2.5 Resilience Scale (RS)

The level of individual resilience was assessed by Wagnild and Young’s (1987, 1993)

Resilience Scale. This scale comprises 25 items which are rated on a 7-point Likert-type

scale ranging from strongly disagree, represented by 1, to strongly agree, represented by 7.

Examples of scale items are ‘‘I usually take things in stride’’ and ‘‘I take thing one day at a

time.’’ The resilience score of an individual is derived from the sum of all item scores.

Higher scores indicate greater resilience. The scale demonstrated good concurrent validity

with forgiveness, stress, anxiety and health promoting activities (Wagnild 2009). It also

showed good concurrent validity with problem-solving and self-efficacy in a Chinese

sample (Li and Yang 2009). The reliability of the scale in this study was high (a = .90).

2.2.6 Family Support Inventory (FSI)

The level of work-related emotional support provided by family was assessed by the

29-item emotional sustenance subscale within King et al.’s (1995) Family Support

Inventory. Sample items from the emotional sustenance subscale are ‘‘Members of my

family are happy for me when I am successful at work’’ and ‘‘I usually find it useful to

discuss my work problems with family members.’’ All items were rated on a 5-point

Likert-type scale, which ranged from strongly disagree, represented by 1, to strongly agree,

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represented by 5. Item scores were added up to attain an overall family emotional support

score. Higher scores indicate greater family emotional support received. The scale dis-

played good concurrent validity with family involvement, life satisfaction, job satisfaction,

family interference with work, and family-work enrichment in American and Chinese

samples (Adams et al. 1996; Wayne et al. 2006; Jin et al. 2013). The reliability of the scale

in this study was quite high (a = .90).

2.2.7 Demographic Variables

Studies have demonstrated the role of demographic variables on job satisfaction. For

instance, female reported having greater work-related stress and lower job satisfaction than

male (Klassen and Chiu 2010; Liu and Ramsey 2008). Furthermore, socioeconomic factors

such as individual pay and education level also had an impact on job satisfaction (Judge

et al. 2010; Lam et al. 2001; Ge et al. 2011). With regard to that, demographic data

including gender, education level, and individual monthly income were incorporated as

covariates in the statistical analyses of the current study.

2.2.8 Statistical Analyses

All statistical analyses were performed using IBM SPSS version 19. The Cronbach’s alpha

(a) was first computed to assess the reliability of the instruments in this study. All missing

data (N = 13) were estimated using the Expectation Maximum algorithm (Tabachnick and

Fidell 2001). Participants’ mean scores of job satisfaction, hope, optimism, self-efficacy,

resilience and family emotional support, were computed for further correlational and

mediation analyses. Pearson’s correlational analyses were carried out to investigate the

relationships among PsyCap constructs, demographic variables, and overall job satisfac-

tion. A mediation model was tested, with PsyCap constructs (hope, optimism, self-efficacy,

resilience) as mediators of family emotional support on job satisfaction. Multicollinearity

check using variation inflation factor (VIF) as diagnostics was conducted. An SPSS macro,

PROCESS, was used to test the mediation model (Hayes 2012). Job satisfaction was

entered as the outcome (dependent) variable, and family emotional support was entered as

the independent variable. Four PsyCap constructs were entered as mediating variables.

Demographic variables including gender, education level, and monthly salary were entered

as covariates (i.e. controls in the model). Sobel test was conducted to assess the signifi-

cance of the mediating effects (Baron and Kenny 1986). In order to establish an argument

against the competing causal orders and rule out the alternative explanation that PsyCap

constructs influenced job satisfaction indirectly through family emotional support, four

alternative models in which family emotional support mediated the relationship between

individual PsyCap construct (hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience) and job satis-

faction were tested (see Hayes 2012; Shrum et al. 2011).

3 Results

3.1 Descriptive Statistics and Correlational Analyses

The means, standard deviations, and intercorrelations of the test variables were presented

in Table 2. Pearson’s correlation analyses revealed a significant positive correlation

S. Y. C. L. Kwok et al.

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between family emotional support and job satisfaction (r = .28, p = .000). Also, family

emotional support was positively correlated with hope (r = .19, p = .004), optimism

(r = .30, p = .000), self-efficacy (r = .33, p = .000), and resilience (r = .35, p = .000).

In addition, hope (r = .58, p = .000), optimism (r = .56, p = .000), self-efficacy

(r = .55, p = .000), and resilience (r = .48, p = .000) were positively correlated with job

satisfaction. These patterns of correlations fulfilled the primary requirements for mediation

(Baron and Kenny 1986). As for the demographic variables, education level and monthly

income were significantly correlated with job satisfaction (r = .19, p \ .01; r = .15,

p \ .05, respectively). It is important to note that although the test variables, especially the

four PsyCap constructs, were highly correlated with each other, multicollinearity checks

revealed that the level of multicollinearity within different test variables was acceptable in

the current study, with all variation inflation factors (VIFs) ranging from 1.07 to 2.25.

3.2 Mediation Model

The demographic variables did not have an effect on job satisfaction, F(7,187) = 1.66,

p = .121, R2 = .06. As illustrated in Fig. 1, family emotional support and all controlling

demographic variables accounted for significant variance in optimism, R2 = .10,

F (4,209) = 4.82, p = .001, self-efficacy, R2 = .14, F (4,209) = 5.45, p = .000, and

resilience, R2 = .21, F (4,209) = 12.57, p = .000, but not hope. After controlling for all

demographic variables, the mediation model explained 55 % of the variance in job sat-

isfaction, F (8,205) = 24.16, p = .000.

Four criteria must be met in order for a complete mediation to be established (Baron and

Kenny 1986). Firstly, family emotional support must be associated with PsyCap constructs.

Secondly, family emotional support must be associated with job satisfaction. Thirdly,

PsyCap constructs must be associated with job satisfaction after controlling for family

emotional support. Lastly, the association between family emotional support and job sat-

isfaction must be reduced to a non-significant level when PsyCap constructs are controlled.

That is, all of the effects family emotional support has on job satisfaction are mediated by

PsyCap constructs. The reported significant results in the Pearson’s correlation analysis

illustrated that the first two criteria were met. As for the third and fourth criteria, further

PsyCap constructs

Job satisfaction

.07.46***

-.01

.53***

.20**

.10***

.21***

.34***

.05 (.17**)

Indirect = -.00

Indirect = .04*

Self-efficacy

Indirect = .05*

Optimism

Indirect = .03

Family emotional support

Hope

Resilience

Fig. 1 Mediation model illustrating the relationships among family emotional support, PsyCap constructs(hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience), and job satisfaction. *p \ .05, **p \ .01, ***p \ .001

S. Y. C. L. Kwok et al.

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regression analyses and Sobel test examining the effects of family emotional support and

PsyCap constructs on job satisfaction were conducted.

The association between family emotional support on job satisfaction was initially

significant (b = .17, SE = .06, p = .005). However, when the PsyCap constructs were

incorporated in the mediation model, the association became non-significant (b = .05,

SE = .04, p = .255). That is, the association between family emotional support and job

satisfaction was eliminated when the effects of the PsyCap constructs were controlled.

These results suggested a full mediation by the PsyCap constructs. Sobel calculation

revealed that the association between family emotional support and job satisfaction was

completely mediated by optimism (Z = 2.46, b = .05, SE = .02, p = .01) and self-effi-

cacy (Z = 2.17, b = .04, SE = .02, p = .03). Therefore, family emotional support exerted

an indirect effect on job satisfaction through optimism and self-efficacy. In other words,

the association between family emotional support and job satisfaction was only significant

via two of the PsyCap constructs, optimism and self-efficacy.

To test the alternative possibility of a different causal path in which family emotional

support mediated the relationship between PsyCap constructs and job satisfaction, four

separate mediation analyses specifying these paths were done. The results did not support

this alternative direction of causal path. After controlling for the other PsyCap constructs,

significant associations were found between three PsyCap constructs and job satisfaction

(hope: b = .45, SE = .09, p = .000; optimism: b = .50, SE = .15, p = .001; self-effi-

cacy: b = .21, SE = .07, p = .003). However, Sobel test revealed that once family

emotional support was incorporated as mediator in the model, the associations between

PsyCap constructs and job satisfaction through family emotional support were not sig-

nificant (hope: Z = -.50, b = -.01, SE = .01, p = .619; optimism: Z = .83, b = .02,

SE = .02, p = .406; self-efficacy: Z = .83, b = .01, SE = .01, p = .409; resilience:

Z = 1.12, b = .01, SE = .01, p = .263). Taken together, these results suggested that the

relationship flowed primarily from family emotional support to PsyCap constructs, and not

the other way round.

4 Discussion

The first goal of this study was to investigate the associations among PsyCap constructs,

namely, hope, optimism, self-efficacy, and resilience, and job satisfaction. It was

hypothesised that PsyCap constructs would be positively associated with job satisfaction.

Although all PsyCap constructs were positively correlated with job satisfaction, only three

(hope, optimism and self-efficacy) had significant and positive effect on job satisfaction,

supporting Hypotheses 1a, 1b, and 1c. Among the four PsyCap constructs, resilience was

the only construct that did not have a significant effect on job satisfaction. Unlike the other

three PsyCap constructs, resilience best applies to adverse situations as it places a unique

positive value on risk factors which may otherwise be viewed as threats and may result in

negative outcomes (Masten 2001). In other words, the effect of resilience on desirable

outcomes like job satisfaction may not be as pronounced as that of other PsyCap

constructs.

Consistent with Hypothesis 2, we found a significant positive relationship between

family emotional support and job satisfaction. In spite of that, results from the mediation

analysis revealed that the positive association was completely mediated by optimism and

self-efficacy. Non-significant results from alternative models ruled out the explanation that

family emotional support mediated the relationship between PsyCap constructs and job

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satisfaction. That is, family emotional support only enhances job satisfaction through its

positive effect on optimism and self-efficacy of the worker. Encouragement and guidance

from family members may help an individual cope with life difficulties and have better

functioning, making him or her feel more motivated and positive in life (Adams et al.

1996). Thus, individuals with strong family emotional support are more likely to feel

optimistic. Whilst hope and optimism appear to be quite similar in nature, optimism takes a

broader perspective and has a unique contribution to job satisfaction. Different from hope,

optimism is not constrained to internal, self-directed agency and pathways. Rather, it takes

on a broad, holistic and future-oriented perspective and attempts to explain negative events

positively in terms of external, situational factors (Youssef and Luthans 2007). As a person

believes in positive outcomes in his or her future, he or she is more likely to be contented

with their job and feel positive about life in general (Kluemper et al. 2009). This may

explain why optimism, instead of hope, mediates the relationship of family emotional

support and job satisfaction.

In addition to optimism, self-efficacy has a mediating role in the relationship between

family emotional support and job satisfaction. It has been well documented that family

emotional support increases one’s self-efficacy (Thompson et al. 2002; Ferry et al. 2000).

The guidance and encouragement from family members may serve as positive reinforce-

ment, leading one to feel more confident and capable at work (Kasikci and Alberto 2007).

A person with high self-efficacy who believes in his or her capability is more likely to

achieve goals at work and to derive satisfaction from the job (Judge et al. 2001).

Although hope and resilience did not yield a significant mediating effect on job satis-

faction, this finding should be interpreted with caution. The non-significance could be due

to the high correlations among the four PsyCap constructs. Although multicollinearity

checks showed that level of multicollinearity among the test variables was acceptable, the

four PsyCap constructs might be too similar to reveal separate effects when placed together

in the same regression equation.

4.1 Limitations

There are several limitations in the present study. First, as this study has a cross-sectional

design, results should be interpreted with caution. According to Maxwell and Cole (2007),

cross-sectional examination of mediation may generate biased estimates of longitudinal

effects. This study only explored the correlations among hope, optimism, self-efficacy,

resilience, family emotional support and job satisfaction. It does not infer causal rela-

tionships among these variables. Correlational analyses do not lead to the conclusion that

family emotional support and PsyCap constructs cause job satisfaction. Second, there may

be other factors influencing job satisfaction in this study, such as happiness and subjective

well-being of the workers. More comprehensive examination may help to identify other

potential factors and provide a clearer picture of the situation. Third, although the measures

used in the present study were administered in both English and Chinese and have been

used by others studies in Chinese population, most of them were adapted from Western

studies and further validation may be needed for their applications in Chinese populations.

Fourth, the present study only included questionnaire survey to measure job satisfaction. In

order to obtain more comprehensive and in-depth data, both quantitative survey and

qualitative interviews, such as focus groups, can be included in future research. Fifth, it is

important to note that even though the results obtained in this study were drawn from

diverse industries, all data were collected from local firms and organisations. Results may

not be generalised to workers in other industries in Hong Kong or other Asian countries.

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Despite the limitations listed above, the present study offer opportunities for further

research into the factors that contribute to job satisfaction in non-Western countries. Apart

from the four PsyCap constructs, it may be worthwhile to examine the relationship between

other potential positive psychological resource capacities (i.e. wisdom, courage, spiritu-

ality, happiness, gratitude, etc.) and job satisfaction. Furthermore, a longitudinal study

using the same population would be a step forward in understanding the causal relationship

of family emotional support, PsyCap and job satisfaction (Maxwell and Cole 2007). In

addition, other than the support from family members, further research may examine the

effect of support from people at the same workplace on job satisfaction, as well as the

mediating effect of PsyCap on the two. In fact, Kaufmann and Beehr (1989) reported some

potential effects of support from supervisors and co-workers on job-related strain including

job dissatisfaction, workload dissatisfaction, boredom, and depression.

4.2 Implications and Conclusion

Integrating the ecological and positive psychological perspectives, this study gives support

for the mediating role of PsyCap on the relationship between family emotional support and

job satisfaction. To promote workers’ job satisfaction, companies or employers may

consider the following measures. Firstly, a comprehensive human resource management

system may be carried out as a strategic function in an organisation to facilitate the

development of PsyCap within workers. Managers may focus more on building and

strengthening the PsyCap among their workers through encouraging them to learn from

one another and adjusting to organisational change (Luthans et al. 2005). Secondly, to

increase employees’ positive psychological capital, employers may organise Employee

Assistance Programmes (EAPs) as a part of a well-being strategy or policy within the

company. This kind of programmes is very popular in many countries like the United

Kingdom, Canada, United States, Japan, etc. The main purpose of EAPs is to provide

workers with counselling services and help them manage personal problems so as to

enhance hope, optimism and increase their self-efficacy.

Besides the contribution of the company or employer, family members also play a big part

in enhancing workers’ job satisfaction. Measures that promote family emotional support, for

example having flexible working hours and holding functions or events of which family

members are welcome to join, may be implemented. These measures provide an opportunity

for workers to enjoy activities with their family members. This, in turn, encourages family

interaction and enhances family support. Programs that stress the important roles of family

members in supporting the workers emotionally may also be organized.

In sum, the present study serves as a reference for firms and corporations because it

sheds light on the possible application of ecological and positive psychological concepts to

enhance workers’ job satisfaction, so as to increase their efficiency and productivity at

work, as well as to improve their well-being. Our results suggest that firms or corporations

may invest in promoting the development of family emotional support and positive psy-

chological capital among their workers, in return for a long-term economic growth and

corporate development.

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