Title: Linking academic engagement and students PsyCap: the mediated role of perceived career adaptability and positive effect

Authors: Musarrat Shaheen; A.K. Subramani; N. Akbar Jan

Addresses: School of Business, Woxsen University, Hyderabad, Telangana, India ' Saveetha School of Management, Saveetha Institute of Medical and Technical Sciences, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India ' Department of Human Resource Management and Soft Skills, ICFAI Business School (IBS) Hyderabad, The ICFAI Foundation for Higher Education (Deemed to be University), Hyderabad, Telangana, India

Abstract: The researchers aim to investigate the role of academic engagement, career adaptability, and positive affect in fostering psychological resources, (i.e., psychological capital), among students. The data were collected after obtaining informed verbal consent from 256 management students from renowned higher education institutes (HEIs) in India. Since all the constructs are reflective, covariance-based structural equation modelling (CB-SEM) is used to test the hypotheses. The findings revealed that academic engagement has direct and indirect effects on students' psychological capital. Career adaptability and positive affects are found to mediate the influence of academic engagement on students' PsyCap. The present study provides avenues to develop students' PsyCap, which is one of the pertinent variables for students' sustainable development in the labour market's changing trends. In addition, the study suggests that HEIs may foster a conducive learning environment to engender career adaptability and positive emotions through academic engagement strategies.

Keywords: career adaptability; academic engagement; positive affect; PsyCap; sustainability in educational institutions; higher education institutes; HEIs.

DOI: 10.1504/IJWOE.2024.140684

International Journal of Work Organisation and Emotion, 2024 Vol.15 No.3, pp.222 - 242

Received: 12 Jun 2022
Accepted: 29 Aug 2023
Published online: 30 Aug 2024 *

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