Does cultural capital matter for individual job performance? A large-scale survey of the impact of cultural, social and psychological capital on individual performance in Brazil

Abstract

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of cultural, social and psychological capital on the individual job performance. The authors propose and empirically test a combination of models, which originate from sociology and positive psychology, and demonstrate that cultural capital – in addition to social and psychological capital – is an important driver of individual job performance. Design/methodology/approach The paper opted for a large-scale survey research design. The sample consists of employees in several occupations who had formal contracts with companies from the public and private sector in Brazil. The measurement instrument is developed and tested by using data collected among 369 valid respondents in 2016. The methods applied include exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory factor analysis through partial least squares estimation. Findings The results obtained indicate that there is a significant simultaneous positive effect of cultural, social and psychological capital on individual job performance. The results indicate that cultural, psychological and social capitals together were able to explain 57 percent of the respondents’ individual job performance, with psychological capital being the dominant driver. The authors also find that cultural capital is at least as important as driver of individual job performance as social capital. Research limitations/implications Because of the chosen research approach, the research results may have limited generalizability and may suffer from potential bias in terms of social desirability. Therefore, researchers are encouraged to test the propositions in different country contexts using different research methods. Originality/value This paper is the first to quantify the relevance of Bourdieu’s cultural capital theory to the study of individual job performance, and offers tools with validated psychometric properties for its empirical assessment.

Relative effects of human capital, social capital and psychological capital on hotel employees’ job performance

“…This research builds on the existing empirical evidence (Luthans et al, 2004;Santos et al, 2018;Tian and Zuo, 2013) in clarifying the prominent role of PC in determining job performance in the service sector. Jobs in the hotel sector are characterized by irregular work hours and low wages which lead to a substantial amount of occupational stress and high rates of turnover (O'Neill and Davis, 2011).…”

“…Based on the theoretical foundation of positive psychology, Luthans et al (2007, p.10) proposed that: Research has also shown that PC has an accumulative impact on employees' workplace constructs such as attitudes, satisfaction and commitment after accounting for the effects of HC and SC (Larson and Luthans, 2006). Santos et al (2018) found that compared with social and cultural capital, PC predominately drives an individual's job performance.…”

“…et al (2014). This scale follows the three-dimension framework of SC (Santos et al, 2018). Luthans et al's (2007) 24-item scale was adopted to measure PC (Kim et al, 2017).…”

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“…Employees' job performance is regarded as a critical factor that determines the success of an organization (Karem et al, 2019). Job performance is also described as the capacity of an employee to perform job tasks that will contribute to organizational growth (Santos et al, 2018). Traditionally, scholars have regarded job performance as the aspect of the job that contributes to creating the products of the organization (Campbell et al, 1993).…”

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“…Good performance implies an increase in efficiency, effectiveness, or higher quality of the completion of a series of tasks assigned to an employee in an organization or company (Murty and Hudiwinarsih, 2016). Santis et al, (2018) defining employee performance is the ability of a person to carry out activities that contribute to the development of the technical core of the organization. Companies need to be aware of the capabilities of employees, able to manage it, and in turn, be able to align with the entire company's business strategy.…”