INDEPENDENT READING AND RESEARCH Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Dr. Didem Rodoplu Şahin Kocaeli University | e-mail: didem.rodoplu@kocaeli.edu.tr Duygu Çubuk Beykent University | e-mail: duygucubuk@gmail.com Tuna Uslu Gedik University | e-mail: tuna.uslu@gedik.edu.tr This journal is published by the University Library System of the University of Pittsburgh as part of its D-Scribe Digital Publishing Program, and is cosponsored by the University of Pittsburgh Press. Abstract The relation with the work and the role of managers and organizational factors are effective on psychological capital and individual performance of employees. This article investigates the impact of the work engagement, performanmce, empowerment, organizational support and transformational leadership on psychological capital using survey data. Keywords: Organizational support, Transformational, leadership, empowerment, job attraction, psychological capital, individual performance New articles in this journal are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 United States License. Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu | mailto:didem.rodoplu@kocaeli.edu.tr mailto:duygucubuk@gmail.com mailto:tuna.uslu@gedik.edu.tr http://www.library.pitt.edu/ http://www.pitt.edu/ http://www.library.pitt.edu/articles/digpubtype/index.html http://www.upress.pitt.edu/upressIndex.aspx http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/us/ Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |1| Emerging Markets Journal The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Dr. Didem Rodoplu Şahin Duygu Çubuk Tuna Uslu I. Introduction Many factors such as organizational climate, management style, leadership structure, job characteristics, task-employee adaptation, strengthening and authorization level depending on the characteristics of the employees becomes effective on their psychology. It is also a fact that the structure and the management style in the institutions are effective on the employees’ commitment to work and satisfaction levels. A rigid and an authoritarian government, while may cause pressure on the employees and the subordinates’ optimism, hopes, expectations and beliefs, a flexible and participatory approach would create more opportunities for them to be attracted and devoted to their job, expose their own potentials, and improve their psychological states. Since the organizations will organize events and activities for their own purposes, employees need to manage and direct their behaviors towards this goal. Management is defined as the behavior, which allows you to act together while motivating, of an individual who directs the collective activities towards accomplishment of the shared objectives with a non-coercive influence (Rowden, 1999: 30). As a result of non-coercive and constructive approach, employees may get attached to their jobs and therefore, their psychological states might very well improve. An individual joins an organization along with his/her own needs and goals and makes a mutual psychological deal with the organization regarding achieving those personal goals and satisfying his/her needs. The capacity of the organization and the management to meet these needs improves job satisfaction and increases employees’ attachment to the organization. Blau's social exchange theory is important in terms of illustrating the emergence of complex social structures from the simplest personal interactions. Someone who provides service to others leaves them under a debt of gratitude. The other party must response in return in order to get rid of this feeling of obligation.. Thus an interaction in which the actors reward each other arises between them. (Blau, 1964: 91) If both of the parties are satisfied with the services provided this exhange continues. A similar interaction occurs between the organizations and the employees. An employee put hard labor into his work using his/her skills, knowledge and experience and in return, expects income, position and reward from the management. The employee him/herself is positioned in a psychological situation with certain expectations, and evaluates and develops his/her circumstances and capital based on what he/she received in return of his/her services. The study of our theorerical infrastructure is based on the Social Identity and Social Exchange theories. An individual, according to the Social Identity Theory, in accordance with the data received from the members of the group that he/she belongs to makes a self-assessment and as a result demonstrates certain attitudes and behaviors. Social Exchange Theory specifies that the cost-benefit analyses and alternatives of all human relationships are based on comparisons. An individual, in the environment that he/she is in relationship with, continues the interaction as long as the perceived benefit outweighs the cost of the relationship, and the theory says that if the attributed cost outweighs the benefits, this interaction will no longer continue. Employees develop an attitude and a psychological state that is in line with the data received from the organization and group that they are in. At the same time, they show more physical, emotional and cognitive association with their work, and establish a positive development both mentally and psychologically as long as they are supported, strengthened and benefited, and because they are benefited, this interaction and commitment gets stronger Although this has a cost associated with it in terms of the employees, thei performances, individual efforts and durability increases. Supervisors that are part of the management, by playing a bridge role between the institution and the employees, will play an effective role in new employees' adaption to the organization, keeping them, letting them indulge themselves in work and employees being attached to Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Emerging Markets Journal | P a g e |2 the organization. Because, the supervisor's transformational leadership style is in an intermediary position in employees' adaption to the organization and finding the organization and the organization climate attractive. An employee who is placed in a suitable job, given authority and responsibilities, and also supported by his/her supervisor, should be expected to continuously improve his/her performance and be committed to his work. Now, let's take a closer look at the "transformational leadership", "that's being empowered" and "organizational support" concepts that shape the work environment. II. Conceptual Framework 2.1. Organizational Support The changing ways of doing business and organizational development process, within the last 20 years, has been moving towards managing the intangible abstract assests more than physical resources, and must focus on managing the processes instead of concrete outputs. While the standardation process that started with the reconstruction and quality assurance systems has been silhouetteing for the ogranizations, in the following years, approaches such as transformation engineering, organization learning have been moving towards differentiation and creating competition advantage. (Figure 1) During this transformation process, organizations learn just like the living entities, change and chart out their own course. From this perspective, organizations have been transforming into organisms that the human abilities are attributed to. They are born, they learn, develop, however if unable to ensure their continuity, they die as all the people do. With the total quality movement in the institutions and the start of the organizational structuring as a single body, this made it necessary for the employees to take part in this process both mentally, physically and psychologically. The organizations, being more than organisms that possess a certain structure, are now abstract fields that continuously change and transform with their employees and structures. These abstract fields, beyond the economical and physical resources, host social and psychological interactions. Figure 1: Organizational Development Process (Luthans,1995) As a result of this approach, organizations have turned to the psychological areas of the employees and engaged in efforts to restructure these areasDespite these approaches at first came out as the elimination of negative behaviors, with time, it has been understood that developing positive behaviors would provide more value both to the organizations and the employees. Hence, organizations aim to strengthen their employees with a positive approach by infusing them with concepts such as autonomy, creativity, and flexibility and supporting them. Approaches such as learning organizations, the total quality management, excellence and empowerment increase the importance of employees of the organization. The fact that the employees can share their thoughts and receive support related or not related to work will be reflected on the employee performance. On the other hand, not taking employees' recommendations and complaints would cause them to feel unwanted, and lack of psychological meaning resulting from the work interaction. (Çakır, 2001: 154). Organizational support refers to the organization taking employee happiness into account and targeting a hike in happiness. (Eisenberger et al, 1986: 501). A supportive organization establishes a link with its employees (Malatesta ve Tetrick, 1996) and increasing organizational support brings out effective work behaviors. (Eisenberger et al, 1997). Perceived organizational support allows the employees of the organization to feel safe, and lean their backs against the institution. Overtime, employees develop beliefs regarding whether the organization support them or not (Eisenberger et al, 1990). Thus, the positive organizational support and work-related interventions may Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |3| Emerging Markets Journal have a positive impact on performance increase. (Cameron, 2003, Cameron et al, 2004). 2.2. That’s Being Empowered The charasteristics of a job consist of skill variety, task, integrity, autonomy, feedback and importance of the task (Sims et al, 1976). Skill variety is a measure of how much the work entails different skills, abilities and activities. The integrity of the task means that a job is completed by the same employee from the beginning until the completion. Autonomy is the degree of freedom and independence that is provided to the person in the planning and performing process of the job. Feedback is how clear and straightforward the information is given to the person regarding his/her individual success. Whereas the importance of the task is how important the job is on people's lives. Possessing these job characteristics requires being empowered. The concept of employee empowerment is defined as providing an environment for the employees where they can take on responsibilities for their actions, employees being given autonomy and decision making authority, and the awareness of the responsibilities of handling the decision outcomes. Thomas ve Velthouse (1990) has defined empowering as an individual’s, who is described four sub- dimensions, motivation to work without external influence and reflecting the employee’s orientation to his/her own work. According to this definition, empowering is an internal and a motivating structure that is composed of four sub- dimensions which are employee’s competence, possession of autonomy, level of understanding, and his/her impact on the job. Also, Spreitzer (1995) mentions that empowering reflects employee’s move towards his job role actively (Spreitzer, 1995: 1443). The significance of the job is that it contains the correspondence between the person’s beliefs, values, behaviors and the demands of his/her job (Spreitzer, 1995: 1443). The concept of employee competency shows the person’s confidence in his own capacity and the required skill in order to fulfill the processes and the activities (Spreitzer, 1995: 1443). When the employees are sure that they can use the skills they have and reflect them to their work, they feel competent. In this psychological condition, employee's effort and dedication to work increases, so that he/she has an opportunity for self-development. The ones who feel self- sufficient in the face of failure regarding being able to handle problems base this on lack of effort, whereas the ones who do not feel self-sufficient base this on lack of skill (Bolat, 2003). Giving the employees a good training program and more opportunities and effective job-employee matching contributes to the development of their skills (Siegall and Gardner, 2000). Initially, the pairing of job-employee the right way is more meaningful than any other relationship, because it will not be possible to develop an employee who does not fit in with his job. The autonomy aspect of empowerment means that perceiving having autonomous rights in regulating activities using employee’s experience (Deci, Connell and Ryan, 1989: 580). Employee’s influence on his/her job is the level of being able to influence all the operational, administrative, and strategic outcomes (Spreitzer, 1995: 1443–1444). Sigler and Pearson (2000) in their study determined that the organizational climate that empowers its employees has a significant effect on their commitment to the organization and performance. They demonstrated that employees who perceive that they are empowered compared to the ones who think they are less empowered have a higher level of performance and that there is a positive correlation between performance and employee perceived empowerment (Sigler and Pearson, 2000). To change the negative attitudes of employees, empowering, transformational leadership and demonstrating a positive attitude towards them have been quite effective (Avey et al, 2008). Thus, it could be assumed that the individuals will change their attitudes and increase their commitment to their jobs wholeheartedly. 2.3. Management Styles and Transformational Leadership In Lewin, Lippit and White’s study in 1939 on management, ever since they divided management into democratic, authoritarian and irrelevant (laissez-faire) as management styles, this division has been used in many studies (Khan, 1999: 574). In recent years, transactional, transformational and authentic leader styles have been being examined and compared in scientific studies. In participatory, democratic and transformational management styles, the employees are able to have control and authority over their work, informed of situations that could hinder their work, and encouraged to bring their own ideas to the table, use their competencies, and develop new alternative methods. Management’s participatory and transformational approach can help employees solve problems by producing creative and alternative approaches. In determining objectives, plans and policies, division of labor, and developing procedures, leadership approach that is in line with the thoughts and ideas formed with the help of the subordinates is important in a democratic approach. Democratic managers distribute authority instead of Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Emerging Markets Journal | P a g e |4 centralizing it. Since the decisions are made based on participation, they are not one-sided as in authoritarian managers; democratic managers consult in the participators and the followers. Managers and the group act as a social unit. Employees are informed of situations that concern them, and encouraged to express their ideas and recommendations (Newstorm and Davis, 1993: 227). Despite the loss of time that may result from the process of decision-making, making healthier decisions with the participation from both democratic management and the members of the group in the decision making process, the employees whose opinions are valued being satisfied by their jobs, thus, a more effective and efficient working group of employees are provided. While the firm leaders develop objective systematic solutions in resolving conflicts, transformational leaders strive to develop and expand the area of freedom, movement and self-sacrifice (Bass and Steidlmeier, 1999). Thus, they support the employees in being empowered and developing feeling of commitment. Bass and Avolio (1993) have defined the elements that form the transformational leadership as intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, inspirtational motivation, and individualized consideration. Transformational leaders cause increases in feeling of confidence and differentiation of their followers, teams and organization. By the way of caring, they allow the subordinates to show courage of being able to cope with obstacles, commit to their jobs internally, and show themselves beyond only protecting their existence. Instead of demanding subordinates that depend on them, they increase the psychological capital and the human capital inside the organization by creating innovative employees that contribute to the organization by thinking critically, risk-taking, independent but committed to his job and objectives along with the organization’s mission, vision and strategy. They warn the followers in a scientific way by trying to respond to the needs and expectations of employees and allowing them to reveal their strengths (Bass, 1990:20). Tranformational leadership approach notices the subordinates’ trends, needs, and desires by the way of personalized attention and uses these to motivate their followers. Outside the conventional managerial duties, a transformational leader gathers the subscales of transformational leadership such as intellectual stimulation, idealized influence, inspirtational motivation, and individualized consideration (Karip, 1998: 446). As a prerequisite, they take on a key role in ensuring trust, being fair and maintainin this trust. Essentially, they establish relationships and create such an empowered work environment, so that this opens the lines of communication. They create autonomy as well as being supporting, tests applications that would allow knowledge development and integrity, provide continuous improvement, manage limited resources, and establish a balance between competing employees while distributing these resources (RNAO, 2006). Transformational leader by actively interacting with his/her followers in a positive and optimistic way, does channeling in order to bring out the existing energy in the employees that are in line with the institutional objectives (Krishnan, 2001:127). This type of leader is an individual who improves their followers’ self-respect, needs, beliefs and values, thus, improves the performance of the organization (Luthans, 1995). Their function is provide support to the employees in producing alternatives and scenerios regarding the ways of doing work and mobilizing them with the participation awareness (Grupta et al, 2004) Managers being participatory will increase the organizational communication, provide the employees who work within the organization the opportunity to reveal themselves, thus increase their self-competencies. The characteristics of a transformational leader are specified as creating spreading vision, mental stimulation and creativity, having a charismatic influence, effective communication, high motivation ability, being representative of change, having a good sense of humor, emotional strength, showing courage and risk-taking, lifelong learning, empowerment (authorization), a flexible management approach, reliability, having self-confidence, valueing team work (Eraslan, 2003: 108). Transformational leaders by clearly expressing the roles and the tasks they expect from their subordinates, strive to direct them towards a vision. Therefore, by focusing on the skills and abilities of their subordinates, they try to improve their self-confidence, thus attain performance above expectations. Employees, who work towards this purpose, aim to improve their followers’ performance along with optimisim, morale, hope and motivation level by primarily increasing interest in their field of specialization and their own job. However, if a transformational leader’s charismatic effect is used to reach the personal interests that are intellectual stimulation and inspirational motivation, actions such as behavioral restructuring autonomy might be replaced with a certain ideology (Carey, 1992). 2.4. Work Engagement Kahn (1990, 694) defines work engagement as employees expressing themselves physically, cognitively and Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |5| Emerging Markets Journal emotionally in terms of getting carried away in their work and performance roles In literature, the concept of engagement, on one hand appears as the exact opposite of the sense of burnout (MAslach and Leiter, 1997), and on the other hand, it has been specified that the work engagement is not actually on the opposite of the concept sense of burnout, it is the level of commitment and the relationship the employees establish with their work despite the existence of a negative relationship between them beyond the engagement being pathological (Schaufeli, Salanova, Gonzalez-Roma and Bakker, 2002). Schäufele and colleagues have defined work engagement as a case of permanent, positive emotional motivation and characterized it with mobilizing with work, dedicate self to work and feeling work inside emotions. Employees who mobilize with work have been observed that they resist against all the difficulties, have the energy and flexibility and are willing to put effort into their work. Devoting self to work has been defined as involving himself in work, being proud because of that, and being inspired. The feeling of feeling job inside and getting carried away have been specified as the not realizing how the time passes, and not being able to leave work. There is a positive correlation between work engagement and the individuals being active and having a changing nature (Langelaan et al, 2006). There is a positive relationship between work engagement and age albeit weak (Schaufeli, Salanova ve Bakker, 2006). In literature, job charateristics and the empowerment appear precursors of the work engagement variable (Saks, 2006). In recent years, there has been studies being conducted on relationships between work engagement and various variables and as a result, it has been demonstrated that various environmental factors had a positive impact on employees being commited to work, and this brought out many positive outcomes in terms of both the employees and the institutions. Being empowered, perceived organizational support and procedural justice variables, on the other hand, the results of job satisfaction, organizational commitment , organizational citizenship behavior, and distancing self from the intention to quit the job have been determined as the precursors of the work and organizational engagement. In this regard, it is being considered that different resources will have a positive impact on employees engaging in work, as a result, the employee turnover will decrease and the flexibility of the employees regarding work will increase. Additionally, amongst the environmental factors, autonomy has the strongest impact on work engagement, and the supervisor support affects the employees’ intention to leave work adversely and increases the feeling of well-being associated with work (Honey, 2008). Transformational leadership that provides all of those, we think that will also assist the employees to engage in work and assume that the individuals who engage in work will be in better psychological states. 2.5. Psychological Capital For the purpose of gaining back the mission of helping people realize their capabilities, strengths and potentials to the science of psychology, in the late 90s, the positive psychology approach that arose as a result of Seligman, president of the APA at the time, and his collegues’ work found an echo in the field of organizational behavior. Thus, studies in the field of positive psychology have made Luthans and friends who were working in the organizational behavior and organizational psychology fields think how this positive perspective would be applied to the organizations. Luthans, with a positive approach at the micro level, pointed out that in order to improve employee performance in the organizations, the strengths and psychological capacities could be improved, not stabilized. Thus, positive psychology brought along an approach called the “positive organizational behavior” that aims to improve employee performance at work by focusing on the strengths of the employees rather than uncovering their weaknesses, and measuring, developing and managing psychological elements beyond these strengths. Positive organizational behavior concept has been brought about to internally improve employees by focusing on the positive strengths rather than changing the negative behaviors externally (instead of correcting the weakness) of the employees in the organizations. Optimism, hope, self- efficacy, emotional intelligence, and subjective well being are defined as positive organizational behaviors ( Page and Donohue , unpublished ). In order to define positive organizational behavior, psychological capital concept developed as a result of studies conducted by Luthans et al. at the Gallup Leadership Institute, is composed of subscales such as self-efficacy, hope, optimisim, and fortitude/resiliency. It was suggested that the psychological capital can be status-oriented, measurable, improved, and identify its effect on performance (Luthans et al, 2006a). alkılabileceğine the bottom of the hard work is developed in individuals with psychological capital increases confidence, felt optimistic about the challenging situations can be overcome, changed the course of events is shown patience and a better hope for the intended conclusions may be Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Emerging Markets Journal | P a g e |6 reached when faced with failure, go back and re- re- focus on the motivation of the target can be achieved. When the psychological capital is developed, the confidence in individuals to handle difficult situations increases, feeling optimistic about challenging situations can be overcome, if shown patience, the hopes of changing the course of events arriving at new outcomes increase, and when faced with failure, going back to the beginning and motivating self to re- focus on the objectives can all be provided. These sub-elements of psychological capital synergistically support each other and when one is strengthened, the following one is too strengthened (Page ve Donohue, 2004). In trainings on this issue, improvement of subjective elements such as the competency, hope, optimism, and resilience are aimed (Luthans et al, 2006a). In the experimental studies regarding the measurability of the psychological capital, Luthans et al, have demonstrated significant differences after comparing post-training to pre- trainin outcomes. (Youssef ve Luthans, 2007) In their research studies, the 24-item psychological capital questionnaire (PCQ) developed by Luthans et al, has been applied and after that training on increasing psychological capital was provided to one of the groups. Afterwards, psychological capital questionnaire (PCQ) was again handed out and responded to. While there were no changes observed in the control group, the experimental group demonstrated a significant increase in the scores as a result of the score they received from the questionnaire (Luthans ve diğerleri, 2006a). In terms of assessing one’s own performance, it has been expressed in various research studies that the psychological capital has a significant and increasing effect (Luthans ve diğerleri, 2007a, 2007b; Avey, published). The psychological capital, in the performance evaluations done by the managers, has been seen to be effective (Luthans et al., 2005, 2007a, published; Avey, published). Additionally, being autonomous regarding business, cognitive abilities, and skills related to his/her job have been shown to be effective on the employee’s job width and improve job performance (Morgeson et al, 2005). 2.5.1. Situational Optimisim The optimistic dimension of the psychological capital has ben defined as having positive thoughts and beliefs that positive results could be obtained with individual efforts (Ross, 2006). It is defined as the referring to the internal, permanent and generalized reasons when explaining the positive events that the individuals have experienced, and external, temporary, and situation-specific reasons when explaining the negative events. Therefore, individuals who are optimistic possess optimistic points of view for the future. For example, optimistic employees who receive a positive feedback and appreciation, they base this on being ethical and believe that they will be successful in all the other tasks not only on this task by working hard and generalizing this reason. Pessimistic people, contrary to the optimists, regard the positive events they experience as external, temporary and situation-specific, and negative events as internal, permanent, and generalized (Luthans ve diğerleri, 2007; Seligman, 1998). Optimistic individuals may not be realistic in the questioning and determining stages of events and behaviors. For example, when they fail in a job that they usually perform successfully, they may fall into the trap of not being able to learn their lessons, see their mistakes when they don’t look for the reasons for failure in themselves. Similarly, optimistic people who believe that they will be successful by working hard will be able to try to create too much control over their lives and destinies. This situation may lead to unwanted negative consequences for some people physically, psychologically and emotionally. For optimists to stay away from this trap and unwanted results is based on their realistic assessments of events and behaviors. Being able to make a realistic assessment of the situation allows the employees to identify the real reasons for success and failure, more accurate use of capabilities and the resources, and identification of more realistic and achievable objectives (Luthans et al, 2007). 2.5.2. Situational Hope The factor under the hope heading suggests that there could be different ways to achieve a goal and the tendency to seek those ways, and reconsider options to achieve success if necessary (Ross, 2006). This is defined as the positive motivational state dependent on the success of planning alternative ways to attain the objective with the goal-oriented energy that the individual possesses (Snyder, 2000:8-9). Individuals with high levels of hope, while having the essential motivation and the desire to achieve the objectives, may predict the obstacles they may encounter and identify alternative routes that will take them to the purpose proactively. Methods towards providing a participatory work Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |7| Emerging Markets Journal environment such as accurate decision making from the lower division to the upper division in businesses and establishing communication, empowerment and increasing authority; allow employees to be freer, stronger, and making authoritative decisions, thus identify alternative ways to achieve goals and be motivated. Working in a participatory environment, requires a cognitive process, analysis and in- depth thinking to make things that are seemingly impossible possible. In recent research studies, the effects of hope on performance, job satisfaction and organizational commitment are examined. According to the studies in which the job satisfaction levels are examined, there has been a positive and significant relationship between employees being hopeful and their job satisfaction levels (Adams et al , 2003). 2.5.3. Self-Sufficiency Related to Role The sense of self-efficacy targets being able to demonstrate the required effort to overcome challenging tasks and the level of self-confidence to overcome any difficulty or obstacle that the person may face ( Ross , 2006). Self- sufficiency, in order for an individual under certain conditions to successfully perform a specific task which requires the mobilization of motivation, cognitive resources and behavior style, is the self-confidence that person feels about him/herself (Stajkovic and Luthans, 1998a).In short, Luthans (2007) has used the concept “self-confidence” instead of the “self-sufficiency” concept that is defined as the conviction that an individual achieve a behavior which would lead him to certain outcomes. An individual to gain self- sufficiency in a specific task or an area is dependent upon his attempt to successfully complete that task, learning from the experiences of others, being encouraged by others and receiving positive feedback. Moreover, for example, in a complex task, employees may achieve self-sufficiency by dividing the tasks into smaller parts and at first trying to achieve goals in smaller pieces, and with time, by connecting those pieces together to make it a whole again. Furthermore, with several applications such as scenario analyses and applications, doing exemplary case studies, managers to appreciate the workers, providing possibilities for child care, and exercise facilities on site, employee assistance program, to provide a more favorable physical and psychological work environment are all identified as the methods that will help the development of self sufficiency. Meta -analytic results, there is a high degree of significant relationship between self sufficiency and work-related performance ( Stajkovic and Luthans , 1998b ) . 2.5.4. Fortitude Fortitude is the motivation to be able to continue to take the right path in the face of failure, and be strong against all the setbacks and problems (Ross, 2006). It is defined as the ability for the individuals to fine-tune themselves in uncertain, difficult situations, and thanks to being able to produce rapid solutions, they recover quickly, and even have the chance to display much better performance than ever before. Employees with high fortitude will not have any difficulties adapting to the new work environment that is competitive, changing, and uncertain. People develop their social, cognitive, and psychological assets through skills, values and beliefs. Thus, they may gain control of their exposure to risk. Therefore, hope, self-sufficiency and optimisim which are components of positive psychological capital except for the flexibility that people have, could be included as one of the assests that allows the development fortitude (Luthans et al, 2007c). Fortitude concept has been associated with performance outcomes (Luthans et al, 2005). III. Research Methods 3.1. Theoretical Framework Employees' psychological capital levels and perceived positive work attitudes about themselves are discussed as the dependent variable in this study. Organizational support, transformational leadership approach and that’s being empowered which are independent variables of the study and if we consider the employees engagement in work as being the intermediary variable which we think will affect the dependent variables. Due to the positive relationship between the perceived performance and subscales of the psychological capital, we expect that there will an interaction between those two variables, and we also expect that the intermediary variable, work engagement, will affect the interaction as well. Figure 2: Schematic model of the hypothetical relationships and research between variables. Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Emerging Markets Journal | P a g e |8 3.2. Research Hypotheses H1: There is a strong direct positive relationship between the psychological capital’s subscales (situational optimism, situational hope, role-oriented self-efficacy and fortitude variables) H2: Demographic characteristics, organizational support, transformational leadership, that's empowerment, performance variables and work engagement are effective on the subscales of the psychological capital. H3: There is a positive correlation between the subscales of the psychological capital and organizational support, transformational leadership, that's empowerment, work engagement, performance, H4: Transformational leadership has a positive effect on the organizational support. H5: Demographic characteristics, organizational support, transformational leadership, that's empowerment, work engagement and performance variable have an effect on the psychological capital. IV. Methods 4.1. Subjects The questionnaires used in this research study were prepared to be filled out on the internet, and the subjectswere sent out a link of this website through the e-mail. 356 responses were received as a result of collecting data phase of the study. The mean age for the sample was determined to be 34,5 (standard deviation 10,1) in which the sample ranged from 19 to 70 years of age, the average working years 12,84 (standard deviation; 10,4) and the average years they have been working in the same institution 6,69 (standard deviation; 7,55) The demographic characteristics of the participating subjects are illustrated below: Table 1: Demographic charateristics of the subjects N=356 Females Males Age Until 29 88 49 30–39 63 59 40–49 24 41 50 and over 4 28 Total 179 177 Marital Status Single 105 54 Married 61 115 Divorced/Widowed 13 8 Total 179 177 Education Level Primary/Secondary 0 3 High School 8 19 University 116 115 Master’s/Doctorate 55 40 Total 179 177 Sector Public 71 63 Private 108 114 Total 179 177 Administrator Executive 57 93 Non-executive 121 84 Total 178 177 4.2. Measurement Tools As a means of data collection, questionnaires were used for the purpose of determining the leadership and empowerment structure of the institutions where the employees work, and to establish the relationships between, work engagement, psychological capital situations, performance perceptions of these variables. Inside this form, in order to determine the demographic characteristics of respondents questions such as age, gender, educational level, marital status , income level , etc. were prepared. Thus the questionnaire is composed of seven sections: transformational leadership, organizational support, that’s being empowered, work engagement, psychological capital, perceived individual performance, and demographic characteristics. In the first chapter under the title demographic characteristics, 4 open-ended and 7 elective and a total of 11 questions were asked. In each of the tests that constitute the following sections, the subjects were asked to mark the frequency of occurrence that is represented by the expressions. Subjects gave their answers on the spaced scales that extend from "never" to "always" with six options Transformational Leadership Scale: To determine the style of the manager, the first 24 questions from the Multifactor leadership questionnaire (MLQ) developed by the Bass and Avolio (1995) were used. This part of the scale measures the transformational leadership style, idealized influence, inspirational motivation, intellectual stimulation and individualized expression subscales in 4-dimensions that are composed of 6 expressions each. In İşcan’s (2006) study, Cronbach’s alpha reliability coefficient of transformational leadership emerged as .89 Organizational Support: Perceived organizational support is measured with Sak’s (2006) questions that consist of 8 expressions. 3 more questions on whether the organization meets the employee needs or not were added to these questions that resulted in 11 total questions. That’s being empowered: In order to determine the that's being empowered state, in terms of the significance of the task, a scale has been created by bringing 15 questions Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |9| Emerging Markets Journal together with questions coming from the Spreitzer's (1995) empowering scale, Sim et al's (1976) skill variety, Beyerlein's (1993) one expression, and Hacman and Oldham's (1980) 2 expressions. Work Engagement Scale Work engagement variable will be measured by the questions in the "work experience list" in the Shäufele 9, Salanova and Bakker's (2006) Utrecht Engagement Scale (UweS-9) which is comprised of 9 expressions Perceived Performance Test: 5 questions that is used to measure the individual job performance consist of 1 question added to the 4 expressions that Sigler and Pearson (2000) took from Kirkman and Rosen (1999) Psikolojik Sermaye Ölçeği: In our research, in order to determine the questions of the psychological capital variable and subscales, a 50-item scale was developed by the researcher by bringing together Snyder et al's (1996) situational hope, Scheier and Carver's (1985) situational optimisim, Block and Kremen's (1996) and Wagnild and Young's (1993) resilience, Parker's (1998) role-oriented self-efficacy inventories. Expressions in each test were examined by a group of 5 officials and expressions difficult to understand have been simplified and each of the said 6 tests were formed created with a spaced scale. The subjects evaluated each test expression by selecting one of the 6 answers that extend from "never" to "always". 4.3. Application Questionnaires prepared in printed forms to be used in the study were transferred in to the computer environment and and an interface was created to be published. The questionnaire as whole was checked again on the internet, and the link of the website have been reported to the people through e-mail. 4.4. Statistical Analysis Method For the purpose of testing the subscales and the validity of the variables (That's being empowered, transformational leadership, organizational support, work engagement, the perception of psychological capital and individual performance), SPSS 13 program has been utilized, each scale are passed through factor analysis separately and their reliability was tested with Cronbach Alpha values.  Factor analysis: In order to identify the subscales of the scales prepared separately that belongs to each variable in the study, the collected data that belong to the each scale set passed through the factor analysis. Principle components factor was used as the factor analysis and rotated using the varimax technique  The internal consistency analysis: The only pre- determined factor or in determining the reliability of the subscales, Cronbach's alpha coefficients  Multiple Regression: Multiple regression have been used in order to determine the factors affecting the dependent variable. After determining the subscales of the variables, initially, the relationships between the subscales of the psychological capital were determined using the Pearson analysis. These subscales by being passed through the regression analysis one bye one, independent variables have been identified that affect these scales. All the available data by being passed through the hierarchical regression analysis, variables and scales that create the main effect on the dependent variable. Subsequently, multiple regression has been used to investigate the effects of independent and intermediary variables on the dependent variable. V. Findings 5.1. Factor Analyses Organizational Support: The negatively worded questions’ scores have been reversed from the 15 questions from the organizational support questionnaire and all the questions were passed through the factor analysis. Scales’ Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value 0,952, the p-value of less than one thousandth, and the explanatory factor have been determined to be %59.754. Table 2 shows the factor and reliability analysis results. Organizational support questionnaire of 15 questions, and all questions negatively worded factor analysis of those scores were reversed. Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin value of the scale was 0.952, and the p-value of less than one thousandth of 59,754 % identified as explanatory factors Table 2: Organizational Support, Factor and Internal Consistency Results ORGANIZATIONAL SUPPORT Explanatory Factor (%) Item Weight Cr. Alpha (%) Explanatory Factor 59,754 95,0 My organization ignores meeting my expectations (-) ,817 When my organization has the opportunity, uses and abuses me (-) ,803 My organization ignores my complaints. (-) ,801 My organization gives importance to my job satisfaction. ,793 My organization considers my goals and values ,788 My organization really cares about my happiness ,770 Ignores me even when I do my best. (-) ,746 My organization neglects to appreciate my extra efforts (-) ,725 My organization provides my opportunities now than when I first started ,733 Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Emerging Markets Journal | P a g e |10 My organization pays very little attention to me (-) ,722 I get help from my organization when needed. ,720 My organization cares about my opinions. ,710 My organization offers opportunities I never expect ,655 My organization is forgiving if my mistake is excusable ,617 My organization would hire lower-waged employee in my place. (-) ,582 Transformational Leadership Level: While the transformational leadership expressions composed of 24 questions are gathered in 4 scales, as a result of our analyses, with the removal of 7 questions as they didn’t meet the factor and internal consistencies remained 17 expressions gathered under 2 scales. Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin value of 0.966 , p-value of less than one per thousand were determined, respectively. Factor and reliability analysis results shown in Table 3 Table 3: Transformational Leadership Factors and Internal Consistency Results Empowerment at work: In the state of being empowered at work questionnaire, the scores of the negatively worded questions have been reversed and all the questions were passed through the factor analysis, in factor analysis these questions were grouped under 4 scales. 3 questions from the factor analysis and 2 questions from the internal consistency tests were removed from the scale as they increased the Cronbach Alpha value. In the very last factor analysis, of 10 expressions group under 4 scales Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin value 0.885, p-value of less than one thousandth, and the total variation of these 4 scales was determined to be 80,729 %. Factor and reliability analysis results shown in Table 4. Table 4: Empowerment at work factors and Internal Consistency Results TRANFORMATIONAL LEADERSHIP SCALES Explanatory Scale (%) Item weight Cr. Alpha (%) Factor 1: Attention towards individual 43,265 97,5 My manager helps us improve my strengths ,924 My manager does his/her best to help us ,913 My manager provides guidance on career development. ,905 My manager does not avoid self-sacrifices to support us ,902 My manager directs us to improve ourselves. ,885 You’d be proud to work with my manager. ,883 My manager takes care of all of his/her subordinates one on one. ,881 My manager is aware of our individual needs. ,873 My manager approaches us in a friendly manner and cares about ouremotions. ,825 Factor 2: Intellectual Stimulation 35,125 96,4 My manager encourages us to be optimistic about future ,896 My manager considers the moral and ethical consequences of the decisions made ,879 Total Explanatory Value 78,390 Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin Value: ,966 Bartlett Significance Value: ,000 7078,009 EMPOWEREMENT AT WORK SCALES Explanatory Scale (%) Item weight Cr. Alph a (%) Factor 1: Job control 26,271 86,3 I can make decisions on how to run the business. ,761 I have the freedom to do my job any way I like. ,748 My job is under my full command from the beginning to the end. ,715 Factor 2: Job characteristics 20,174 81,4 I know exactly what to expect from my job ,703 I have the opportunity to know how well I do my job. ,676 job has open, planned and logical goals and objecives ,622 Factor 3: Job competency 17,523 82,7 I have the required knowledge and skill regarding my job. ,706 I have the required talent and capacity to do my job ,706 Factor 4: Influence on the job 16,762 81,5 I have the influence and control over the department I work in. ,689 My influence and effect over work in my department is very high. ,689 Total Explanatory Value 80,729 Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin Value: ,885 Bartlett Significance Value: ,000 Approximate chi-square value:: 2109,701 Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |11| Emerging Markets Journal Work Engagement Level: As a result of work engagement questionnaire being subjected to the factor analysis, those 9 expressions were grouped under 2 factors. In its original state, seen under the other scale “I feel happy when I work hard” came out under the first scale in the reliability test. It has been removed from the first factor, because it was placed under the other scale and to raise the internal consistency levels by 10%. In the most recent factor analysis 8 expressions grouped under 2 scales Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin value 8 0.883 , p-value of less than one thousandth, and the total variance of the 2 scales were determined to be 77,579 % . Factor and reliability analysis results shown in Table 5. Table 5: Work Engagement Factors and Internal Consistency Results WORK ENGAGEMENT SCALES Explanato ry scale (%) Item weigh t Cr. Alpha (%) Factor 1: Excitement 51,980 92,6 I feel full of energy when I work. ,789 I feel strong when I am at work. ,837 I am very enthusiastic regarding my work ,867 My job insires me. ,801 When I wake up in the morning, I go to work happy. ,753 I am proud of the work I do. ,692 Factor 2: Getting carried away 25,599 83,1 I get carried away. ,715 I lose myself in my work. ,715 Total Explanatory Percentage 77,579 Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin Value: ,883 Bartlett Signifi cance Value: ,000 Approximate chi-square value: 2130,931 Perceived Individual Performance Level: Performance related expressions grouped under a single factor , "I complete my tasks on time" expression decreases internal consistency by about 20% and were removed as we thought that it was different from the other expressions. The remaining 4 questions have a Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin value of 4 0.828, p-value of less than one per thousand , and explanatory were determined to be 73,877 % , respectively. Factor and reliability analysis results are shown in Table 6. Table 6: Performance Factor and Internal Consistency Results PERCEIVED INDIVIDUAL PERFORMANCE Explanatory Factor (%) Item Weight Cr. Alph a (%) Explanatory Factor 73,877 88,2 I am sure I more than meet the standards with the quality services I offer ,759 I reach my goals more compared to my collegues. ,747 My performance level is higher compared to my collegues. ,736 When a problem arises, I find solutions as quickly as possible. ,733 Kaiser- Meyer-Olkin Value: ,828 Bartlett Signifi cance Value: ,000 Approximate chi-square value:: 717,900 Psychological Capital Level: As a result of factor analysis towards determining the scales of the psychological capital, by eliminating 50 expressions, the remaining 21 expressions that have been passed through the factor and internal consistency tests approximately 30 times were grouped under 5 scales. In the most recent factor analysis Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin value of 0.916, p-value of less than one thousandth, and the total variation of these 5 scales was determined to be 59.763%. The remaining expressions and the factor and reliability analysis results shown in Table 7 Table 7: Psychological Capital Factors and Internal Consistency Results PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL SCALES Explanat ory Scale (%) Item Weight Cr. Alph a (%) Factor 1: Self-Sufficiency 17,419 85,8 I trust my contribution regarding my organization’s strategy in discussions ,759 I am sure of myself when I offer ways to improve my departments work ,714 In my area of work, I believe that I can assist with setting objectives. ,686 I trust myself in designing new ways related to my field of work ,630 I can reach my personal goals and outcomes. ,582 Factor 2: Situation- oriented Hope 12,632 80,7 Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Emerging Markets Journal | P a g e |12 I can find many ways to overcome a challenge. ,628 I trust myself when analyzing a long term problem to solve ,627 To reach my present ways, I can think of many ways. ,612 I always look on the bright side when it comes to work. ,565 I am optimistic about what’s going to happen to me in the future will about my work ,549 Factor 3: Fortitude 10,761 73,2 I can overcome and manage unwanted situations right away ,588 I can handle stressful situation without getting anxious ,536 Even when left alone, I continue to fight for things I believe in. ,529 When I can’t get out of a certain situation, I step back, and re-assess the situation ,462 Factor 4: Optimisim towards Generilization 10,155 62,9 I am generally optimisitic about my future. ,520 It’s easy for me to unwind and relax ,399 Generally, I feel that the possibility of good things happening to me than bad things is higher. ,398 Factor 5: Conditional Optimisim* * For the total facto, the scores for all the expressions in this scale have been reversed 8,796 60,9 In case of a setback, compensating the situation and going on becomes an issue ,446 I rarely think good things might happen to me. ,406 If something can go wrong, it goes wrong. ,366 It’s hard for the things to go my way. ,350 Total Explanatory Percentage 59,763 Kaiser-Meyer- Olkin Value: ,916 Bartlett Signifi cance Value: ,000 Approximate chi-square value: 2887,577 5.2. Correlation and Regression Analysis After the factor and reliability analyses, the relationships of scales between themselves that form the psychological capital have been examined in the “correlation matrix”. As it could be seen in the matrix in table 8, there is a significant positive relationship (p<0.01) between scales. Table 8: Correlation Table Between the Psychological Capital Factors Amongst the subscales of the psychological capital variable seen in table 8, a positive correlation high but not exceeding .70 was found, and our first hypothesis has been supported. The multiple regression results that belong to the variables that is effective on these subscales are illustrated in table 9, table 10, table 11, table 12 and table 13. Table 9: Multiple Regression Results on Self-Efficacy Dependent Variable: Self-Sufficiency (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level Age and sex from demographic variables have been seen to be effective on self-sufficiency, age has a negative effect on self-sufficiency. The higher the subjects’ ages are, the lower the self-sufficiency is. As long as they are excited about being committed to work, are effective and capable in Variables Self- Sufficiency Hope Fortit ude General Optimis im Conditional Optimisim Self- Sufficiency (.858) Process Hope ,693(**) (.807) Fortitude ,636(**) ,560(* *) (.732) General Optimisim ,464(**) ,502(* *) ,386(* *) (.629) Conditiona l Optimisim ,393(**) ,433(* *) ,385(* *) ,471(**) (.609) Average 4,6305 4,6163 4,500 7 4,0687 4,0290 Standard Deviation ,80267 ,74110 ,7064 8 ,88137 ,72004 (**) 0.01 significance level, Cronbach Alpha values are in paranthesis Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |13| Emerging Markets Journal their work, think that their performance is higher than that of their collegues, their self-sufficiencies will go up (Table 9). Table 10: Multiple regression results on process-oriented hope Dependent Variable: Process-oriented hope (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level Only sex from demographic variables has been seen to be effective on process-oriented hope. The male subjects have given more hopeful answers to our inventory. As long as they are supported by their organization, are excited about being committed to work, think that their performance is higher than that of their collegues, their hopes will go up (Table 10). Table 11: Multiple Regression Results on Fortitude Dependent Variable: Fortitude (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level Only sex from demographic variables has been seen to be effective on fortitude. The male subjects have specified that they were more resilient in their responses. As long as they are excited about being committed to work, are effective and capable in their work, and think that their performance is higher than that of their collegues; their fortitude will go up (Table 11). Table 12: Multiple Regression Results on General Optimisim Dependent Variable: optimisim (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level Being a manager, working in private sector, and spending very low from demographic variables have been seen to have a negative effect on general optimisim. On the other hand, As long as they are supported by their organizations and are excited about being committed to work, they generally tend to be more optimistic (Table 12). Table 13: Multiple Regression Results on Conditional Optimisim Dependent Variable: Conditional Optimisim (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level Only having no business partnership and having a business from demographic variables has been seen to have a positive effect on conditional optimisim. As long as they are supported by their organization, have control over their job are excited about being committed to work, think that their performance is higher than that of their collegues, they may think that they are more agile, however so long as the work they do is more clear, the participators become more pessimistic when they face with a difficult situation that concern themselves (Table 13). Including psychological capital composed of self-sufficiency, hope, fortitude, conditional and generalized optimisim, all of the scales’ Model R2 Adjust ed R2 F Independent Variables Beta T 2 ,476 ,454 21,95 7(**) Being a male ,099 2,340(*) Organization al Support ,175 3,106(**) Job Excitement (Engagement ) ,276 4,552(**) Individual Performance ,237 3,980(**) M o d el R2 Adjust ed R2 F Independent Variables Beta T 4 ,378 ,329 7,76 3(**) Being a Manager -,117 - 1,982 (*) Very low spending -,116 -2,247 (*) Private sector -,147 -2,744 (**) Organizationa l support ,269 3,029 (**) Job excitement (Engagement) ,255 3,198 (**) Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu The Effect of Organizational Support, Transformational Leadership, Personnel Empowerment, Work Engagement, Performance and Demographical Variables on the Factors of Psychological Capital Emerging Markets Journal | P a g e |14 Cronbach Alpha reliability values, averages, standard deviations, and relationship between the variables have all been illustrated in table 14. Our third hypothesis has been supported. Because the organizational support and transformational leadership subscales between the correlation coefficient is higher than 0.70, a multicollinearity relationship between these variables was found. Table 14: Correlation Table Between the Subscales of the Scales (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level Cronbach Alpha values in paranthesis Due to correlation being higher than 0.70 between the subscales of transformational leadership and organizational support that constitute our dependent variables, the effects of leader’s attention to the individuals and the intellectual stimulation on the perceived organizational support have been examined with multiple regressions. Asgari et al. (2008) have found that the transformational leadership through leader-member (LMX) interactions is effective on the perceived organizational support,. Our regression results in Table 15 support the effects of transformational leadership on the perceived organizational support. So long as the managers' individual attention to the employees and intellectual stimiluations increase, the perceived organizaional support also increases. (Table 15), our 4th hypothesis has been supported. Table 15: Multiple Regression Results on Perceived Organizational Support Dependent Variable: Perceived Organizational Support (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level Since it is very effective on the variables, the subscales of the transformational leadership have not not been added to the regression analyses in which the organizational support's contribution on the dependent variables is examined.. The hierarchical regression results of the variables that describe psychological capital are illustrated in Table 16. Our 5th hypothesis has been partially supported. Table 16: Multiple Regression Results on Psychological Capital M o d el R2 Adjus ted R2 F Independe nt Variables Beta T 7 ,668 ,635 19,997(**) (Fixed) ,881 3,134 (**) Sex (Male) ,105 2,526 (*) Position of Manager -,098 -2,189 (*) Job Competen cy (Empower ment) ,164 2,891 (**) Job Efficieny (Empower ment) ,095 1,738 (**) Organizati onal Support ,270 3,892 (**) Job Excitement (Engage ment) ,274 4,460 (**) Performan ce ,337 6,217 (**) Dependent Variable: Psychological Capital (**) 0.01 significance level, (*) 0.05 significance level VI. Results and Discussion In this study, only the effects of the transformational leadership on the employees' psychological capitals and performances have not been identified. However, in terms of employees, the individual attention and intellectual stimulation from the leader primarily increases the perceived organizational support. Organizational support and work-related resources have been identified as being precursors in terms of both psychological capital and performance. So long as the organizational support increases, employees' psychological capitals improve and on the other hand, performance perceptions decrease. In other words, employees who feel that they are being supported by their organization; they have a tendency to report lower performance than that of their collegues. This situation can be evaluated as the reduction of cost perception in the Social Exchange Theory with regards to the employees and employees increasing their interactions and psychological benefits by the way of work commitment Work engagement variable is an effective variable on the psychological capital and performance, The Volume 3 No 3 (2014) | ISSN 2158-8708 (online) | DOI 10.5195/emaj.2014.49 | http://emaj.pitt.edu Dr. Didem Rodoplu ŞAHİN, Duygu ÇUBUK, Tuna USLU P a g e |15| Emerging Markets Journal contribution of employees feeling that having control over their work and being excited about their jobs to the psychological capital and the contribution of employees thinking that their jobs are clear to the individual performance acts as mediators. The demographic factors such as sex and managerial positions on the psychological capital have been observed to be effective. Male managers perceive the support of their organizations as higher. The ones' who are males and are in managerial positons, self-efficacy, hope, fortitude and general optimisim scales' averages have been a lot higher than that of other subjects.. However, in terms of management criteria, these organizational behavior variables compared to other factors constitute less importance. Despite Lutfans et al's work towards increasing the positive behaviors of managers, not having much differences between the managers and the employees in terms of psychological capital when compared with the other variables, it makes us think that these studies need to target all the employees, not only the managers. It can be seen that the case of psychological capital and its subscales to distinguish the managers and the employees does not come in the first place, however subscales associated with the empowerment compared to the employees from the standpoint of the managers has been seen to receive higher values. Managers perceive the individual performance levels and organizational support directed towards them higher. These findings, within the Social Identity Theroy framework as a result of the interactions of the managers, could be evaluated as developing attitudes and behaviors such as evaluating their positions, undulging in work, getting excited about their jobs, demostrating higher performance than others. Since the transformational leader approach has come out as a precursor of organizational support, whether or not the manager approaches are effective an how effective on the psychological capital have not been determined. In future studies, the contribution of supervisor support on the psychological capital and individual performance, as a result of interaction with other variables could be examined. References Adams, V.H., Snyder, C.R., Rand, K.L., King, E.A., Sigmon, D.R. ve Pulvers, K.M. 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