Developing psychological capital and emotional intelligence in higher education: A field experiment with economics and management students

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Highlights

  • Little research has examined the effectiveness of teaching non-cognitive skills.

  • A field experiment assesses the effectiveness of management educational training.

  • Psychological capital and emotional intelligence are teachable in higher education.

  • Psychological capital and emotional intelligence affect academic performance.

  • Emotional intelligence is less malleable to teaching and can deter performance.

Abstract

This study examines the effectiveness of an educational intervention built upon the experiential learning model and positive psychology aimed at increasing management students' psychological capital (PsyCap) and emotional intelligence (EI) during higher education (HE). It also analyses how EI influences PsyCap and how both affect students' academic performance measured by self-reported grade point average (GPA). A field experiment was used employing a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test-post-test and a control group. Results confirm the effectiveness of the educational intervention in increasing management students' PsyCap and further influencing academic performance; however, the intervention was less effective in increasing students' overall EI. The findings of this paper contribute to the literature by examining the role of management education to develop students' psychological resources, which have key implications for graduates' academic success and future employability and institutions’ engagement in responsible management education.

Introduction

Over the last decade the development of positive psychological resources, such as psychological capital (PsyCap) and emotional intelligence (EI), has received increased attention from academics and managers as well as Higher Education Institutions (HEIs), which have attempted to address them in university curricula (e.g., Gilar-Corbi, Pozo-Rico, Sanchez, & Castejon, 2018). These psychological resources are of interest because they can play a key role in providing a competitive advantage for students' academic performance as well as future graduates' employability (Succi & Canovi, 2019) and career success (Luthans et al., 2014). A wide body of research has demonstrated the positive impact of these psychological resources on individual performance (Avey et al., 2011; O'Boyle et al., 2011), job satisfaction (Miao et al., 2017), career success (Rode et al., 2017), and wellbeing (Lupș;a et al., 2020), across countries (Cinque, 2016), industries (Wu & Nguyen Khanh-Van, 2019) and occupational roles (Newman et al., 2014); thereby validating their paramount importance and high demand (Bonesso et al., 2020).

PsyCap encompasses four psychological attributes: self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007); and EI indicates the ability to identify, manage, and control ours and others' feelings and emotions to guide behaviours (Salovey & Mayer, 1990). Both are relevant to overcoming challenges university students face and form the basis of coping with the hurdles of graduates’ personal and professional futures.

Although research has shown that PsyCap and EI develop during higher education and can be taught in the classroom (Luthans et al., 2008; Luthans et al., 2014; Gilar-Corbi, Pozo-Rico, Sanchez, & Castejon, 2018; Gilar-Corbi et al., 2019), theoretically, a gap exists in our knowledge in relation to the effectiveness of Higher-Education (HE) interventions to develop students' PsyCap and EI. Earlier accounts have assessed PsyCap and EI development separately but the effectiveness of educational interventions targeting both has been overlooked (Bonesso et al., 2020). Most studies do not provide sufficient detail about training strategies and content of EI interventions, or whether overall EI or EI-related competencies and attitudes, such as motivation, coping, empathy, and social skills are addressed (Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019). Furthermore, the interaction of PsyCap and EI and how both affect students’ academic performance has been widely disregarded. Previous research has overlooked how EI changes over time and can be an antecedent of overall PsyCap.

To the extent that PsyCap and EI are key psychological resources that are open to change and development (Luthans, Youssef, & Avolio, 2007), one cannot disregard how they develop through HE in general, and particularly in Management education. These competencies are in high demand because they play a crucial role in preparing individuals for the challenges of everyday life (Blázquez et al., 2018; Bonesso et al., 2020), and in favouring employability and career success (Brunello & Schlotter, 2011; Succi & Canovi, 2019).

To address these research gaps, this study employs a field experiment and analyses the effectiveness of an educational intervention that aims to increase students' personal and social competencies during HE. This intervention builds upon the Experiential Learning Theory (ELT; Kolb & Kolb, 2017) and follows a positive-psychology approach to develop overall PsyCap and EI. Changes following the training of PsyCap and EI were previously studied, but these competencies were assessed separately. Instead, this study addresses these competencies in a control versus experimental group of HE students by using a pre-post survey design. Participants were second-year students enrolled in the Bachelor of Business and Management (experimental group) and the Bachelor of Economics (control group) from a public university in Europe. These groups were targeted because both attended the same faculty at the same time and have similar educational backgrounds (i.e., admission requirements) and geographic origin, as well as similar extracurricular activities facilitated by the university. Both groups followed an equivalent academic curriculum for the main technical skills but differed in the training of psychological resources. The main curricular difference between the two bachelor's degrees refers to the enrollment in two-semester courses on Personal and Social Competencies with 3 ECTS credits each (PSC I and PSC II) and that are mandatory for second-year students of the Bachelor's in Business and Management, but not required for the students of the Bachelor's in Economics (for details see Appendix 1).

Given these characteristics, the two classes form comparable, albeit non-random, experimental and control groups. Therefore, one expects the development of students' PsyCap and EI during higher education studies (i.e., through time), and after the two-semester courses aimed to develop the personal and social competencies of the management students. Following previous research (e.g., Gilar-Corbi, Pozo-Rico, Sanchez, & Castejon, 2018; Lupș;;a et al., 2020; Luthans et al., 2014; Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019) it is likely to observe an increase in PsyCap and EI in both groups, ensuing maturation and formal education, but that growth will be higher in the Bachelor's in Business and Management students (experimental group), who were subject to specific training.

This study contributes to the literature in several ways. First, it extends the application of the experiential learning theory (Kolb & Kolb, 2017) and the positive-psychology lens (Linley et al., 2006) to the HE context by showing that PsyCap and EI are teachable through an experiential learning approach. This study engages in earlier discussions on the importance of experiential learning to academic management education (e.g., Brook & Pedler, 2020) by providing further empirical evidence. Earlier research has not addressed the effectiveness of educational interventions aimed to develop both competencies simultaneously, which is highlighted here as per earlier calls (Lupș;a et al., 2020).

Second, the findings provide support for conceptualizing PsyCap as a developmental state (Luthans, 2007a; Luthans et al., 2014) that is permeable to development during HE. Furthermore, the findings extend our understanding of EI development through Management Education and identify the dimensions of EI that are less malleable to change. This input is critical to design more effective intervention programs. The results of the current study have the potential to inform future curricular changes pertaining to responsible Management Education programs and aimed at developing PsyCap and EI through formal education. This is key for the efforts of socially responsible HEIs (Parkes et al., 2017) strengthening their commitment to education as a ‘common good’ (UNESCO, 2020) and seeking to increase graduates' employability and future career success (Blázquez et al., 2018; Cinque, 2016).

Third, the findings also show students' EI is a key antecedent of overall PsyCap beyond individual differences and specific training. Consequently, these findings extend our previous knowledge of the emotional antecedents of academic PsyCap, which have been clearly disregarded (Newman et al., 2014). Hence, understanding how EI in general, and its dimensions separately, can influence overall PsyCap is critical to the customization of formal educational initiatives, and suggests promising paths for future intervention.

Fourth, this research provides insights into the relationship between students' psychological resources, such as overall PsyCap and EI, and self-reported academic performance. Unexpectedly, the findings do not lend support to a positive association between students' EI and GPA, but instead reveal that self-encouragement is positive but some other dimensions (e.g., empathy and understanding one's own emotions) can deter students' academic performance. Although the findings are not generalizable, they open new research avenues examining the broader impact of PsyCap and EI. In fact, management education is uniquely positioned to provide sustainable solutions for lifelong learning that impact society. Such results have important practical implications in assisting business schools and faculties to design formal academic programs that encourage the development of students' personal and social competencies necessary for lifelong learning.

The rest of the paper reviews the literature and describes current perspectives in developing PsyCap (e.g., Lupș;a et al., 2020) and EI (e.g., Mattingly & Kraiger, 2019) through experiential learning (Kolb, 1984). This theoretical framework grounds the hypotheses that an increase of these competencies through the transformation of students' experiences that occur in specific educational programs during HE have a positive effect on students’ academic performance. The following sections present the methodology, including a description of the pre-test-post-test design, sample, and procedures of data analysis. Results are then presented and discussed, including study limitations and main theoretical and practical contributions.

Section snippets

Theoretical background

Experiential Learning Theory (ELT) defines learning as “the process whereby knowledge is created through the transformation of experience. Knowledge results from the combination of "grasping and transforming experience” (Kolb, 1984, p. 41). This learning model encompasses two ways of gaining experience: (1) Concrete Experiences (CE); and (2) Abstract Conceptualization (AC); and two modes of transforming experience; (3) Reflexive Observation (RO), and (4) Active Experimentation (AE) (Kolb et

Field experiment

A quasi-experimental design with an experimental and a control group was adopted. Students attending the mandatory courses of PSCI and PSCII from the Bachelor's in Business and Management formed the experimental group, and the students from the Bachelor's in Economics who did not attend the courses constituted the control group. All students were enrolled in the same public Southern European college and were informed of a research project addressing their personal and social competencies. The

Results

Table 2 presents the correlations among the main study variables. The results for the pre-test are shown above the diagonal and the results for the post-test are shown below the diagonal.

The data indicates that except for students’ age, which was negatively correlated with PsyCap, EI and academic performance (GPA), no other individual characteristic was correlated with the criterion variables. PsyCap and EI are moderately intercorrelated and both are associated with academic performance

Discussion

The current study extends earlier research by examining the effectiveness of an educational intervention built upon the ELT and the lens of the positive psychology to increase management students' PsyCap and EI during HE. This study also analysed the antecedents of students’ overall PsyCap and academic performance. To achieve these goals, a field experiment and a quasi-experimental design with a pre-test, post-test, and a control group was used that involved a total of 165 college students.

The

Conclusion

In Europe, the Bologna Process prompted HEIs to increase their focus on the acquisition of employability skills (Cinque, 2016; Succi & Canovi, 2019). A common approach adopted by HEIs was the incorporation into the curriculum of course-units aiming at enhancing students' non-cognitive skills and psychological resources, such as PsyCap and EI. An underlying assumption is that these individual resources are correlated to students' academic performance and future employability. Many debate the

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