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Unpacking psychological inequalities in organisations: Psychological capital reconsidered
Author(s) -
Dóci Edina,
Knappert Lena,
Nijs Sanne,
Hofmans Joeri
Publication year - 2023
Publication title -
applied psychology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.497
H-Index - 88
eISSN - 1464-0597
pISSN - 0269-994X
DOI - 10.1111/apps.12379
Subject(s) - social capital , construct (python library) , inequality , social psychology , perspective (graphical) , capital (architecture) , social inequality , sociology , psychology , positive economics , social science , economics , mathematical analysis , mathematics , archaeology , artificial intelligence , computer science , history , programming language
In this paper, we argue that psychological capital is unequally distributed among people from different social classes, ethnic backgrounds and genders. Confronting the limitations of the current, individualistic perspective on psychological capital, we offer a re‐conceptualisation of the construct from a critical, interdisciplinary perspective, placing it at the intersection of sociology and psychology. We discuss the various mechanisms through which social inequalities may cause differential access to psychological capital for members of low‐ and high‐status social groups and show how this differential access to psychological capital results in and exacerbates social inequalities. By doing this, we postulate a recursive theory on psychological capital that both recognises the formative effect of socio‐organisational structures on one's psychology and vice versa.