Gallery Presentation International Positive Psychology Association 7th IPPA World Congress 2021

Grit's Predictive Validity Compared to Psychological Capital  (#202)

Adam J Gross 1 2 , Jennifer Thompson 1 , Michael Barr 1
  1. Business Psychology, The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Chicago, IL, United States
  2. The Chicago School of Professional Psychology, Northbrook, IL, United States

 

Grit has been a popular construct that initially received support but has recently been questioned about its psychometrical soundness, and therefore validity.  There have also been questions surrounding the overlap of grit and resilience.  This research compares the performance of grit and resilience from Psychological Capital with employee engagement.

H1: Overall PsyCap score is a stronger predictor of employee engagement (UWES) than Grit.

H2: PsyCap mediates the relationship between Grit and Employee Engagement. 

H3: Perseverance of effort will have a stronger relationship to Grit than the consistency of interest.

H4: There is a relationship between Grit and PsyCap’s subcategory of Resilience.

There were 285 participants. 43% of the sample had a master's. 64% of Women

The participants who took this battery of questions were at least 18, had been at their position for at least six months, and were full-time employees. The participants were given the Grit-O, the PCQ-24, and the UWES-9. To recruit the 285 participants needed for statistical validity, convenience and snowball sampling were used.

H1 has confirmed as PsyCap to Engagement was significant. The relationship between Grit and Engagement was unexpectedly negative and not significant. H2 is confirmed because Grit's path to engagement is not significant, and the other paths are.  H3 was also confirmed. Perseverance to Grit was significant. The Consistency of Interest pathway to Grit was not significant. H4 stated that Grit and PsyCap’s subcategory of resilience would have a relationship. The correlation was medium, but significant Resilience r (283) = .49, p < .01.

The evidence of mediation suggests PsyCap is better. Instead of administering the Grit scale, companies should be focusing more on PCI to increase performance and productivity.  However, there is no method currently available to boost Grit scores, which is why companies should focus on PCI.

 


 

  1. Avey, J. B., Reichard, R. J., Luthans, F., & Mhatre, K. H. (2011). Meta-analysis of the impact of positive psychological capital on employee attitudes, behaviors, and performance. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 22, 2, 127-152.
  2. Credé, M., Tynan, M. C., & Harms, P. D. (2017). Much ado about grit: A meta-analytic synthesis of the grit literature. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 113, 3, 492-511.
  3. Johnson, D. (2018). Training PsyCap and character strength use to instill a self-regulated virtuous cycle Doctoral dissertation). Retrieved from ProQuest Dissertation and Theses database. (UMI No. 10830519
  4. Thompson, J. L. (2019). Psychological Capital Training for Student Success. Paper presented at Six World Congress on Positive Psychology, Melbourne, Australia.
  5. Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., Avolio, B. J., & Peterson, S. J. (2010). The Development and Resulting Performance Impact of Positive Psychological Capital. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 21, 1, 41-67
  6. Gross, A. J. (2019). Grit’s predictive validity compared to psychological capital (Order No. 27665201). Available from ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global. (2371939131). Retrieved from https://tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.tcsedsystem.idm.oclc.org/docview/2371939131?accountid=34120
  • Keywords: Business and Organizations, Career and Work, Leadership/Management, Motivation, Resilience and Posttraumatic Growth