Target Difficulty, Psychological Capital, and Work Engagement
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 19447378 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Makoto Kuroki (0000-0002-7361-6530, Yokohama City University, corresponding author), Yoshitaka Shirinashihama (0000-0002-2002-5083, Kanagawa University) |
| Year | 2025 |
| Volume | 34 |
| Issue | 5 |
| Pages | 2077-2099 |
| Publication date | 2025-10-20 |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | European Accounting Review (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0963-8180 • E-ISSN: 1468-4497 |
| Publisher | Informa UK Limited (PUBLISHER • GB) |
| DOI | 10.1080/09638180.2025.2451153 |
| OpenAlex | W4406627853 |
| Language | EN |
| References cited | 84 |
This study investigates whether psychological capital (PsyCap) moderates the relationship between target difficulty and work engagement. PsyCap is an individual’s positive state of psychological development characterized by efficacy, optimism, hope, and resiliency. Based on goal setting theory, we expect that there is a positive relationship between the difficulty of employees’ targets and their work engagement. In this relationship, we propose a hypothesis that explores whether PsyCap as a core construct influences the relationship between target difficulty and work engagement. Data from 1,404 employees of a listed Japanese firm were analyzed to test the hypothesis. The results show that after controlling for economic uncertainty, past performance, and other factors (i.e., attributions of employees and branches), there is a positive relationship between the difficulty of employees’ targets and work engagement. Further, we find evidence that PsyCap strengthens the relationship between target difficulty and work engagement. This study contributes to management accounting research, especially from a psychological perspective, by providing new evidence for the moderating effect of PsyCap on the relationship between target difficulty and work engagement
Business · Work engagement · Applied Psychology · Employment and Welfare Studies · Engineering · History · Job Satisfaction and Organizational Behavior · Psychological Well-being and Life Satisfaction · Psychology · Social Psychology · Accounting
Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Theories of Motivation from an Attributional Perspective
Job insecurity, subjective well-being and job performance
Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Nurturing Hope
The Construct Validity of the Utrecht Work Engagement Scale
Great expectations
Optimism and Physical Health
The Additive Value of Positive Psychological Capital in Predicting Work Attitudes and Behaviors
Self-Efficacy
Feedback-Seeking in Individual Adaptation
Towards a model of work engagement
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Using the job demands‐resources model to predict burnout and performance
A meta-analysis of team-efficacy, potency, and performance
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The development and resulting performance impact of positive psychological capital
Structural Equation Models of Latent Interactions
Goal commitment and the goal-setting process
New Directions in Goal-Setting Theory
Self-Efficacy
A Practitioner’s Guide to Cluster-Robust Inference
Common method biases in behavioral research
The Measurement of Engagement and Burnout
Positive Psychological Capital
Psychological Conditions of Personal Engagement and Disengagement at Work.
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An Experimental Study of Endogenous Discretionary Controls on Employee Effort
Bootstrap-Based Improvements for Inference with Clustered Errors
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To Be Fully There
Latent variable interaction and quadratic effect estimation
Multiple Roles and Role Strain
Self-efficacy mechanism in human agency
How changes in job demands and resources predict burnout, work engagement, and sickness absenteeism
What (and Why) is Positive Psychology
Self-efficacy and work-related performance
Changes in the Japanese Employment System in the Two Lost Decades
| Highly cited | No |
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