W22J08.pdf

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World Journal of Management and Economics
2022, Vol. 15, Issue No. 06, ISSN: 1819-8643, E-ISSN: 1998-1392
https://wesro.org/volume-15-issue-06/
Role of Psychological Capital on the Job Performance and
Job Effectiveness of Remote Workers amidst the Global
Pandemic- COVID-19
Baisakhi Debnath1
, Dr. Neha Gangwar2
, Dr. Roopa KV1
, Dr. Shruthi Bekal1
, Dr. Seema Sambargi3
,
Dr Bhargavi Hemmige1
& Farooq Ahmed Shariff1
1. Assistant Professor, Center for Management Studies, Jain Deemed-to-be University.
2. Associate Professor, IILM Graduate School of Management, Greater Noida, India.
3. Professor, Center for Management Studies, Jain Deemed-to-be University.
Abstract
The semi-conceptual paper is attempted to outline the role of positive psychology on the job
performance and job effectiveness of e-workers during the present scenario of the global
pandemic, COVID-19. It has been seen that positive psychology and its sub-dimensions namely
hope, resilience, optimism, and self-efficacy has been given considerable importance to
ascertain effective workplace behavior. The ongoing pandemic-COVID-19 has a devastating
impact globally. Innumerable lives and jobs are lost and a paradigm shift has taken place in the
way we used to live and work just a couple of months before. With the lockdown prevailing
globally, work from home has become a norm and thus employers are keen on the job
performance & job effectiveness of the workforce. Researchers have identified that
psychological capital is strongly related to the job performance of the employees. Psychological
Capital (PSY CAP), which refers to the state of development of an individual of the cumulative
psychological resources of hope, resilience, optimism, and self-efficacy. The aim of the present
article is to highlight how Psychological Capital can effectively influence the expected work
outcomes- the Job Performance and Job Effectiveness of the remote workers while
experiencing the present situation of the pandemic and transformation to remote work globally.
Method
A semi-structured interview was conducted virtually which was developed by reviewing the
literature on psychological capital, remote working, job performance, job effectiveness, and
global pandemic. The respondents were from various professional backgrounds. 105
respondents- 69 male respondents and 36 female respondents, who used to work
predominantly in physical office space, and have experienced an abrupt shift to remote
working or work from home (WFH), due to the global pandemic were considered for the
study. A Thematic Analysis was conducted and themes were generated in three categories
exhibiting the role of Psychological Capital (PSYCAP) on enhanced, moderate, and
detracting job performance and job effectiveness.
Findings
The results exhibited the fact that Psychological Capital (PSYCAP) has played a crucial in
the job performance and job effectiveness of remote workers. The sudden shift from real
office space to the remote workspaces of their home and adaptability to the virtual tools has
created a lot of contingencies and challenges among the workforce globally. The

Role of Psychological Capital on the Job Performance and Job Effectiveness of Remote Workers amidst the Global Pandemic-COVID-19 /
WORLD JOURNAL OF MANAGEMENT AND ECONOMICS
95
respondents who have considered psychological capital to be a significant factor in
determining the remote work outcomes were found to have a smoother transition to the
remote workspace with enhanced job performance and job effectiveness.
Keywords
Psychological Capital, Hope, Resilience, Optimism, Self-Efficacy, Job Performance, Remote
workers, Work from Home (WFH), Global Pandemic, Corona Virus, COVID-19.
1. Introduction
The Novel Corona Virus (COVID-2019)
began with the outbreak of pneumonia in
the city of Wuhan, China, in December
2019. The virus within a few weeks of its
inception has resulted in confirmed cases of
over a lakh with thousands of deaths
(Garfin, et. al; 2020). With the scenario
worsening further, WHO has declared the
corona virus as a global pandemic, on 11th
March 2020. COVID-2020 has created the
scenario which has developed one of the
most unparallel crises affecting the
organizations and workforce globally, by
bringing the new model of social distancing
and forcing the global workforce to work
from home (WHF) (Bodewits 2020). The
mandatory social distancing which is
prevalent across has resulted not only in the
deviation in the work arrangements but has
also created an awkward void in the
significant form of social contribution like
social volunteering (Choudhury, et. al;
2020). Several organizations across the
world have successfully crossed the initial
hurdles of moving the teams remotely and
ensured that their co-workers have their
processes defined, tech tools organized to
run these processes and that the colleagues
are connected to their video conference
accounts. However, despite the initial
framework being put forth to create an
effective infrastructure, the question that
arises among the employers during the
lockdown is that how the job performance
and job effectiveness can be uninterrupted
amidst this changing work environment
(Mc Gregor & Doshi, 2020). Wheatley
(2012) has reported that employees
working from home have experienced
higher levels of satisfaction which
primarily resulted due to the flexible
working hours as compared to fixed office
hours, as well as saving the traveling time
which results in increasing the “available”
time for additional activities. However, the
study conducted by Wheatley also
conforms to the fact that the spare moments
are usually not utilized for leisure but
various household chores and activities,
primarily in the case of women. Several
negative outcomes have also been
associated with remote working where it
has been found that, though WFH reduces
the stress, however, the remote working
leads to an overlap between the work and
home activities which lowers the
recuperative effects of home (Hartig et al.,
2007). As the line which separates the
workplace and home gradually fades away,
the employees experience unclear &
unfocussed work and non-work lives,
working hours, and a dearth of free time
(Allvin et al., 2011). The objective of the
study is to examine the influence of
Psychological Capital (Self-Efficacy,
Hope, Resilience, and Optimism) in the
transformation of the full-time office
workers into remote workers partially or
fully and how this paradigm shift has had
an impact on the Job Performance and Job
Effectiveness of “present normal” remote
workers globally.
2. e- Worker, Remote Working (WFM)
and its influence on Job Effectiveness
and Job Performance
2.1. E-workers or e-working- The related
definition of e-worker, taken into
consideration for the present study is given
by (Nilles, 2007, p. 1) which defines e-
worker as “any form of substitution of

96
information technologies (such as
telecommunications and computers) for
work-related travel: moving work to the
workers instead of moving workers to the
work” (Nilles, 2007) pointed out that e-
working highlighted “location
independent” feature. This conforms to the
fact that e-working enables an employee to
complete the work irrespective of the
location and fixed time-frame and thus
expand the use of technology to facilitate
sustainable and flexible working practices
(Nilles, 2007, p. 1). Kurland & Bailey
(1999) mentioned that the major challenges
faced by the managers while adopting the
remote work engagements are mostly due
to certain relevant changes like an alteration
from direct supervision to managing the
workforce remotely, from communicating
with the workforce face to face to a
technology-mediated interaction and from
managing co-located teams to virtualteams
and thus it is critical to implement remote
working techniques by enhancing
organizational control and fairness,
communication and a fulfilling alliance and
knowledge sharing among the co-workers
so that managers can effectively manage
virtual teams Kurland & Bailey (1999)
2.2. Job Effectiveness- Job Effectiveness
is defined as the “evaluation of the results
of employees’ job performance”
(Jex,1998). Various literature reveals that
remote working has proved to be
advantageous for employers to improve the
job effectiveness and productivity of the
employees (Butler et al., 2007; Wheatley,
2012; Noonan and Glass, 2012) which
includes higher levels of job satisfaction,
influence on the productivity of the
employees in both qualitative and
quantitative aspects of the work, lesser
geographical compulsions on the existing
workforce and increased employee
commitment (Baruch, 2000; Morgan,
2004). These results are due to the balance
created between professional and personal
commitments due to remote working.
Research by (Kowalski and Swanson,
2005) has pointed out that the role
expectation from the remote e- workers
should be clear and the misapprehension of
the same may lead to disbelieve and
disappointment for both the parties.
2.4. Job Performance is one of the most
significant organizational aspects in general
and more importantly amidst the COVID-
19 pandemic because of its crucial
contribution to an organization’s
performance. The most specific definition
of performance has been given by (Oppler
et al. (1993, p. 488), who defined
performance as “the goal-relevant actions
of an employee.” Thus, it is imperative to
recognize the factors which can influence
the job performance of remote workers.
Various studies about organizational
predictors of job performance have pointed
out that the factor “identification with the
organization” is a precursor of job
performance (Tuzun et al., 2018). Various
researchers’ have exhibited identification to
be related to individual behavior (Sluss and
Ashforth, 2008; Van Knippenberg, 2000;
Walumbwa et al., 2008, 2009) and
organizational identification has been
empirically found to be correlated to job
performance (Ashforth et al., 2008;
Olkkonen and Lipponen, 2006; Van
Knippenberg, 2000; Walumbwa et al.,
2008, 2009). Studies in organizational
identification have been guided by “social
identity theory” and organizational
identification in alignment with the social
identity theory is defined as “the perception
of oneness with or belongingness to an
organization, where the individual defines
himself or herself in terms of the
organization(s) of which he or she is a
member” (Mael and Ashforth, 1992, p. 4).
This identification develops a sense of
perception that enables an employee to
correlate with the organizational goals,
objectives, and values (Ashforth and Mael,
1989; Miller et al., 2000).
However, developing this identification
and alignment with organizational goals
and hence the job performance & job

97
effectiveness becomes a challenge while
working from home. This is because
working from home modifies three
boundaries of remote workers namely
spatial, temporal and psychological
boundaries (Srinivasan V, 2020). Spatial
isolation results due to blurring of the
boundary of work and home which hinders
the assistance from co-workers, where
infrastructural challenges seem difficult to
deal with and where there is a sense of
physical remoteness due to the absence of
familiar work-groups to whom the
employees can talk to or vent their emotions
and grievances (Srinivasan V, 2020). The
temporal boundary is altered due lack of
perception of the initiation and completion
of a working day which results in either
overworking or working lesser hours when
working from home. The modified timings
result in alteration in communication
patterns with the co-workers resulting in the
disappearance of the concept of work-life
and personal life ((Srinivasan V, 2020). The
alteration in the psychological boundary
happens due to the complexity in settling
with the work and personal spaces as in
many occasions work from home is
considered as the partial holiday where the
employee is expected to participate in the
social and familial chores. The situation
becomes increasingly crucial for women
employees and mothers who often
experiences severe role-conflicts because
of their role of caregivers often overriding
their role as a professional. Additionally,
for the majority of employees a well-
defined office space is not available which
maintains privacy and professionalism
((Srinivasan V, 2020). These factors
increasingly compromise the job
performance of remote workers.
3. Psychological capital (PSYCAP) –
What is Psychological Capital? And why
is it important?
3.1. Psychological Capital is a construct of
human personality and can be defined as
“the study and application of positively
oriented human resource strengths and
psychological capacities that can be
measured, developed, and effectively
managed for performance improvement in
today’s workplace” (Luthans, 2002, p. 59).
Several studies have considered
psychological capital as an individual-level
variable (Tuzun et al., 2018). It consists of
four indicators namely- Hope, Resilience,
Optimism, and Self-Efficacy. (Luthans et
al., 2007) stated that the employees who are
more hopeful, optimistic, efficacious, and
resilient may be more likely to weather the
competition from the dynamic and global
environmental conditions confronting
organizations. The positive state of an
individual’s development is usually
referred to as psyche and is characterized
by;
a. Self-Efficacy- Believing in one’s
abilities to initiate and complete a specific
set of challenging tasks or attain certain
goals with necessary endeavors. (Luthans
& Youssef, 2004; 2007a). Self-Efficacy or
Confidence is an individual belief of one’s
competencies to gather together the
motivation, learning resources, and
channels to carry out a specific task within
a given circumstance (Stajkovic and
Luthans, 1998b, p. 66). Self-Efficacy,
grounded in social exchange theory
encourages the choice of challenging goals
and musters the cognitive mechanism of
exemplifying, anticipating, securitizing,
self-regulating, and introspecting towards
achieving the goal (Bandura, 1997, 2012).
Self-efficacy can be explained as a human
resource strength that has the psychological
capacity for growth, development, and
effective performance management. Self-
efficacy is the confidence in one’s abilities
to mobilize the resources and the courses of
action to successfully execute a particular
task (Luthans & Youssef, 2004). Self-
efficacious individuals are likely to manage
their work and problems as they set new
challenges which in turn expand their
experience base (Lewis, 2011). Such
individuals hold a stronger belief in their
ability to successfully perform challenging

98
tasks, set even more challenging goals for
themselves, and invest more resources, and
can handle failure better than individuals
with low self-efficacy (Heaven, 2006).
b. Optimism – Characterizing positive
attributions about success both at present
and in the future (Luthans and Youssef,
2004; 2007a). It is a comprehensive
positive expectancy (Carver et. al., 2009)
and an approach of attributing affirmative
events to personal, everlasting, and
persistent causes and negative events to
external, momentary, and circumstantial
causes (Seligman, 1998). Optimism is
especially significant in maintaining a
positive viewpoint in substantially negative
circumstances by moderating the impact of
negative occurrences and augmenting the
impact of positive events. Furthermore, it
can be said that individuals who are
optimistic in nature rarely lose hope when
they are following their innovative ideas.
These individuals will find affirmative or
better alternative ways to make their ideas
successful even when they come across
stressful circumstances (Ziyae, et al.,
2015).
c. Hope – Hope is “a positive motivational
state that is based on an interactively
derived sense of successful (1) agency
(goal-directed energy) and (2) pathways
(planning to meet goals)” (Snyder et al.,
1991, p. 287). It implies moving towards
the goal with perseverance and uncovering
alternative ways to reach those goals to be
successful (Luthans and Youssef, 2004;
2007a). The goal-directed energy
represents the resolution and determination
for the attainment of goals, whereas
pathways imply “way-power” or the
capacity to create alternative ways to
triumph over the hurdles (Lopez, 2013).
Hope is viewed as a cognitive process that
is substantiated with pragmatic behavior
which in turn directs towards achievable
goals. When compared to simple aspiration,
hope exhibits a much larger dimension
because of the methodicalrelationship with
goals, behavior, and the outcome of both.
(Avey et.al, 2009). Conventionally
although hope is considered to be largely
comparable to optimism in day-to-day life,
however, Bryant and Cvengros (2004) have
verified hope & optimism to be different
constructs both empirically and
theoretically.
d. Resilience – The evolving capacity to
endure and rebound when encountered with
unfavorable situations, conflict, or failure
to succeed or even in situations of positive
affairs, advancement, and increased
accountability (Luthans, 2002a). The
significance of resilience is familiar with
the “at-risk” population (Masten et al.,
2009), however, resilience can enable
organizations and their employees to
survive, rise above and learn from and
develop with challenges (Youssef and
Luthans, 2005). According to Tugade and
Fredrickson (2004), various research has
suggested that resilient individuals are
better in terms of dealing with stress-
triggered from the constantly changing
working environment as such individuals
are more open to new experiences and show
more emotional stability when faced with
adversity.
4. Psychological Capitaland its influence
on Job performance & Job effectiveness
of remote e-workers, employees working
from home (WFH)
Psychological capital is made up of the
first-order positive psychological resources
such as hope, efficacy, resilience, and
optimism. These constructs best meet the
inclusion criteria like theory and research-
based states like affirmative, measurable,
and have an impact on attitude and
behaviors, performance and well-being
(Luthans & Youssef, Morgan, 2017).
According to Brent and Brett (2015),
psychological capital offers a structure that
enables us to understand human assets
which can be beneficial in accomplishing
human potential. Psy Cap provides trails
that enable individuals to cope with as well
as flourish during and ahead of the period

99
of adversity (Rehman et al., 2009) which
can be significant for the e-workers to adapt
to the remote working conditions of WFH
during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic
and bring about effective job performance.
Several studies have mentioned the
influence of individual constructs of
psychological capital on the job
performance of employees. As self-efficacy
is the belief & confidence of an employee
about individual competencies to bring
together the enthusiasm, experiences, and
the direction required to effectively carry
out a definite task within a given framework
(Stajkovic and Luthans (1998, p.66), it can
be understood that self-efficacy enables an
individual to focus on a specific event.
Bandura (1997) proclaimed that individuals
having higher levels of self-efficacy have
higher chances of venturing into a task as
they believe that they would turn out to be
successful and hence put in the sustained
effort because of this belief. Bandura
(1997) also pointed out that, when
individuals are not confident of success
despite applying necessary effort; theeffort
focussed towards success is withdrawn and
at that point, self-efficacy plays a role in the
job performance of employees. Optimism is
considered as a strong prospective indicator
of job performance according to (Kluemper
et al., 2009). (Carifio and Rhodes, 2002),
has distinguished optimism from hope
based on a higher external locus of control
where a person may not be necessarily
optimistic however they are still hopeful.
The situation on the contrary to this can also
be true according to (Carifio and Rhodes,
2002), where the person even though not
very hopeful, still feels optimistic because
of the higher degree ofthe external locus of
control. On the contrary, an individual
exhibiting a higher degree of internal locus
of control may show evidence of a higher
degree of optimism in both their present and
future likelihood of success. However,
Seligman (1998) argued optimism to beas”
realistic optimism” versus “unrealistic
optimism” which most likely leads to
failure. According to Seligman (1998),
realistic optimism can affect the
performance of an employee through
continued efforts and has an impact on the
performance of individuals as people who
expect to be successful are less likely to
give up and continue to put sustainable
effort focussed towards success resultingin
effective employee performance as a
whole. `Again, the construct hope has been
viewed by Synder (2000) as the
psychological capital construct which is an
amalgamation of “successful volition or
will-power” along with a recognized plan
of action or “way- power” which intends to
complete a desirable course of action. Hope
is viewed as a cognitive process that ends
with pragmatic behaviors leading to
attainable goals. Peterson and Byron
(2008), affirm that individuals with higher
levels of hope possess goal-oriented effort
and impeccable skills to overcome
impediments and achieve success. The
capacity of these individuals to repeatedly
engender alternative ways for goal
execution leads to sustained efforts and
ultimately effective job performance
Peterson and Byron (2008, p. 1). Finally,
the construct resilience is the capacity to
rebound successfully on being encountered
with problems or unanticipated barriers
(Luthans et al., 2007b). It is a significant
variable in a situation like the ongoing
COVID pandemic when employees haveto
work from home (WFH) abruptly when
they are yet to learn to effectively work on
the virtual platform, which on many
occasions has led to the dissolution of the
barrier of work-life and personal.
Resilience represents the degree to which
individuals who have encountered
unexpected changes in working conditions
which in many cases had led to major
setbacks, can remodel themselves and make
another pounce on their goals with
reasonable chances of being successful
(Bonanno, 2004, 2005). When faced with
adversities resilience can be enhanced
according to researchers like Avey et al.
(2010) and Luthans (2002) by

100
implementing the three major actions like
concentrating on the available assets and
look for the means of multiplying them to
increase the chances of being successful,
reducing the threats and alleviating the odds
and enhancing the chances of successes and
lastly increasing the possibility of being
triumphant by reinforcing the critical
operations of an individual’s success plan.
Empirical evidence conforms to the fact
that an employee’s level of self-efficacy,
optimism, hope, and resilience individually
influences the performance result to the
same extent. Nevertheless, thecombination
of this dimension altogether shows a
stronger correlation with job performance
as compared to an individual facet
suggesting a shared medium of operation
between these constructs (Luthans et al.,
2005). Thus, in this moment ofcrisis, when
the world of work is shifting to the online
mode, when the work and business
environment is striving to revamp and
transform themselves, learning to keep to
the scattered workforce engaged, keyed up,
and focussed on their job performance and
effectiveness, psychological capital plays a
remarkable role.
5. Methodology of the study
5.1. Respondents: The researchers
approached the authorities of the
organizations by e-mail and phone calls to
get the approval to reach the re-working
staff of their organizations for an interview.
The freelancers were approached from
within the contact list of the researchers. No
face-to-face interaction was attempted due
to the national lockdown due to the
COVID-19 pandemic.
5.2. Inclusion Criteria: Participants who
were working primarily from office
infrastructure and have started working
suddenly from home using technology (e-
workers) in response to the lockdown due
to global pandemic- COVID-19 were
considered for the study
5.3. Exclusion Criteria: Professionals who
have the leverage of working fromhome
the majority of the time, the retired
individuals, and the people who have not
started working yet were not considered for
the study. This is because the researchers
were looking for real-time experience of the
professionals on their job performance and
job effectiveness due to these sudden
makeshift changes.
Participants voluntarily agreed to the
interview and thus their statement of
experience about the sudden changes in the
working conditions, and the role of
psychological capital (Self-efficacy,
Optimism, Hope, Resilience) on the job
performance and job effectiveness were
reckoned for the study
Number of respondents: 105
Duration of the Study: December 2020-
December 2021
5.4. Method of Data Collection: A semi-
structured interview schedule was prepared
which was developed using the literatureof
psychological capital, e-working, remote
working, job performance job
effectiveness, and pandemic. A semi-
structured method was applied to ensure it
includes the research area and the questions
were formulated connected to
psychological capital, work from home,
remote e-working, job performance, and
job effectiveness. An open-ended
questioning style, with only one closed-
ended question, was implemented to
complement the semi-structured questions.
The interviewer responded to the questions
for any clarification only via e-mail, phone
calls and messages (text message, phone
calls, and web messages) due to the
constrain of face-to-face interaction
because of the prevailing lockdown. The
interview was developed in the pattern such
that the questions can be answered
remotely- via phone calls, e-mails and
messages and could be completed at ease in
the absence of the interviewer.
The interview questions were split into four
sections:

101
a. Demographic Details –Name (optional),
e-mail id, gender of the respondents
b. Role – The designation and the role
played by the respondent in the
organization
c. Measuring e-working or Work from
home practices – questions that can
measure e-working
d. Closed-ended Question: To determine
which one or more of the psychological
capital constructs (Self-Efficacy,
Optimism, Hope, and Resilience) is/are
critical in determining the job performance
and job effectiveness
5.5. Procedure: The respondents were
given a choice to interview via phonecalls,
e-mails, and messages as per their
preference and comfort. In the case of a
telephonic interview, the semi-structured
interview was conducted by one of the three
researchers independently usually lasting
between 30 -60 minutes. While taking the
telephonic interview, the interviewer
clarified that the questions were understood
by the respondents and it was made sure
that the questions were interpreted similarly
to all the respondents. In the case of
responses by e-mail and messages, the
questions were explained thoroughly by
writing in lucid words and the researcher
reverted to the respondent in case of any
part of the survey being incomplete to
clarify and get the complete detail about the
same. A prior appointment was taken both
for telephonic interviews and for
completing the surveys which were
partially complete in case of e-mails and
messages.
5.6. The number of Respondents and
Respondent’s Profile: A total of 120
responses were received out of which 11 e-
mailed responses were incomplete. These
respondents did not respond upon being
contacted to complete the survey. 2 of the
responses were provided by the retired top-
level managers of a public sector
undertaking of the central government
which could not be considered as well. 2
responses Thus, the number of respondents
finally turned out to be 105 with the
response rate of 87.9%.
TABLE 1: Table showing the designation of the respondents of the present study
SL NO DESIGNATION Numbers of
respondents
1. MANAGEMENT/CORPORATE EMPLOYEES
a. Top-Level Managers 17
b. Middle-Level Managers 21
c. Lower-Level Managers 4
d. Technical (Engineers) 21
2. COLLEGE/UNIVERSITY TEACHERS AND STAFF
a. Top Management 1
b. Assistant Professors 15
c. Associate Professors 1
d. Professors 3
e. Research Scholars/Doctoral/Post-Doctoral Scholars 2
f. Non-Teaching Staff 2
3. SCHOOL TEACHERS 6
4. ENTREPRENEURS/SELF EMPLOYED 7
5. PSYCHOLOGISTS/COUNSELORS 3
6. PRINT MEDIA EMPLOYEES 1
7. MOTIVATIONAL SPEAKER 1

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TOTAL 105
The respondents were working in different
sectors (government, private and self-
employed, entrepreneurs, and freelancers).
The respondents belonged to a wide range
of professional areas; from CEO’s and
Directors and Joint Directors of the
company to Engineers, Trainers, and
Motivational Speakers and Coaches,
Counsellors Administrators, Middle Level
and Higher Level Managers, IT
consultants, Entrepreneurs, Individuals
working in manufacturing sectors,
Teachers teaching in schools, Assistant
Professors & Associate Professors from
various colleges, music developers,
Newspaper subeditor, Content Specialists,
People working in NGOs, Bankers.
The responses were from thedifferent parts
of the country and the world namely NCR,
Mumbai, Chennai, Kolkata, Kota-
Rajasthan, Gujarat, Bangalore, and a few
districts of Karnataka and Pittsburgh,USA,
London, United Kingdom, and Dubai,
UAE. Out of the 105 respondents
considered for the present study 69 (66
percent) were male respondents and 36 (34
percent) were female respondents.
Luthans et. al (2007a) underlined that the
psychological capital pinpoints primarily
on the positive motivation and functions as
a covert variable demonstrated by self-
efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience.
These discrete variables are functioning in
conformity to outline an inimitable element
of the positive side in the workplace in the
life of an individual (Luthans and Youssef,
2007). Although the majority of the studies
on psychological capital and various
outcomes of PSYCAP on the job and
employee performance are concentrated in
the organizational context where
individuals work in the physical office
space interacting across different levels of
hierarchy, however, in the present study,
where the respondents are trying to adjust
to the new normal work-culture of working
from home (WFH) and its glitches because
of the coronavirus pandemic, also felt that
these variables individually or in
combination has played a very significant
role in their job performance and job
effectiveness.
6. Data Analysis and Interpretation
The data were related to two primary
research areas namely job performance and
job effectiveness of the remote e-workers.
The themes were generated under 3
categories based on the influence of
psychological capital on the outcomes of
remote e-working. A majority of the
respondents i.e., 22.8% have reported all
four factors namely (Self Efficacy, Hope,
Optimism, and Resilience) influence their
remote work outcomes. The themes
generated after studying the responses from
this category of respondents have majorly
exhibited enhanced work outcomes i.e.,job
performance and job despite the abrupt
transformation due to remote e-working
during the pandemic.
6.1. Category 1- Enhanced Job
Performance and Job Effectiveness
Figure 2.0 exhibits the themes generated
from interviewing the respondents who
thought that their job performance and
effectiveness were enhanced as a result of
remote working or due to the
transformation from physical to virtual
workspace. The respondents said either
Self-Efficacy or all the four constructs
namely (Self-Efficacy, Hope, Optimism,
and Resilience) were significant in enabling
them to deal with this abrupt transition and
cope with the inappropriate work
ergonomics, technical glitches, and
communication barrier. The respondents
opined that the lower operations and
overhead costs and lesser manpower
deployment can result in effective
utilization of resources thereby resulting in
the augmentation of profits. They felt that

103
planning and time management can be
effective in leading to job satisfaction
(Harpez, 2002) for the remote working
employees which in turn leads to higher
productivity (Morgan, 2004). Since remote
work represents comprehensive category
which includes distributive work or “Work
from Anywhere”, studies have also pointed
out that professionals and experts
performing intricate and multifaceted tasks
requiring minimum peer collaboration
exhibits greater job performance, job
effectiveness, and greater productivity and
prefer WFH (Allen, et. al; 2014).
Additionally, the respondents believed that
a flexible work schedule possesses a strong
correlation with work autonomy where the
respondents have the leverage of selecting
the most effective time to commence and
end their work obligations effectively. With
organizations increasingly adopting to
measuring outcomes as compared to
activity, the respondents felt that remote
working facilities have significantly
amplified the control over their conditions
of work by reducing the disruptions and
interruptions in their work environment.
Figure 2.0: Figure showing the influence of Self-Efficacy or all 4 constructs namely Self-
Efficacy, Hope, Optimism, and Resilience on Job Performance and Job Effectiveness of
remote e-workers
A crucial point emanated by the majority of
the respondents who have considered self-
efficacy or all the 4 constructs of positive
psychological capital namely (Self-
Efficacy, Hope, Optimism, and Resilience)
to be critical enablers for their enhanced job
Saved Commute Time, Less
Exhaustion and Adequate Rest
Leverage to Work from Anywhere
Improved Work Quality
Lack of Physical Interaction
results in lack of clarity in
communication
Ineffective Team Collaboration
Less Social Conflict
Improved Physical, Mental and
Spiritual Health
Increased Family Time
Self-Efficacy
OR
Self-Efficacy
Optimism Hope
Resilience
Flexible Work Environment

104
Time Management- Blurred Work and
Family Life
Occasional Lack of Focus
Work Commitment Deviated
Occasionally
Psychological Capital -
Any 3 Constructs
Limited Access to Data and Resources
performance and job effectiveness in the
remote work setting is the increasing
likelihood of managing professional
commitments and family-related
responsibilities effectively (Johnson et al.,
2007). The female respondents in particular
thought that, the closure of schools and
offices has led to home confinement of the
family members along with disruptions of
the necessary services like domestic help
and child care facilities. Although this has
increased their primary caregiving
responsibilities manifold however it has
enabled them to invest increased quality
time with the family and children (Johnson
et al., 2007) which according to the
respondents enabled them to strike a better
balance between work and family time and
made them care their children, family
members, elders, and relatives more
effectively, resulting in improved job
performance and job effectiveness. The
female respondents felt that remote
working might open the avenues of
professional prospects for women
(Schreiber, 1999) as it facilitates them to
work from home during the sickness of the
individual or the family members and as
well during maternity leaves. They alsofelt
that this may encourage female labor force
participation as the majority of the women
leaves the workforce to conform to their
caregiving responsibilities. Finally, the
respondents felt that the Work from Home
(WFH) has not only saved the time of
commute, and hence saved the energy but it
has additionally reduced the expenses on
travel which includes fuel, expenses on
transport, etc and acted as a significant
factor in augmenting the job performance
and job effectiveness.
Category 2: Moderate Job Performance and Job Effectiveness
Figure 2.1: Figure showing the influence of any THREE constructs of Psychological
Capital (Self-Efficacy, Hope, Optimism, and Resilience) on Job Performance and Job
Effectiveness of remote e-workers.
from respondents who experienced a
moderate job performance and job
effectiveness as a result of the
transformation to the virtual workspace.
These respondents opined that any of the
three constructs (Self-Efficacy, Hope,
Optimism, and Resilience) were crucial in
affecting their job performance and job
effectiveness. Additionally, their responses
confirmed that, since the organizations
were never equipped for a complete
transformation to the remote workspace
there exists a lack of guidelines, resources,
and management policies and practices to
deal with the contemporary crisis.
Additionally, they felt that focussing onjob
outcomes, teamwork, collaboration is a

105
Inappropriate Work Ergonomics
Lonely and Isolated Makes
Overwhelmed,
Limited scope for brainstorming, group
discussions and work
Challenges in Team Management
Specially Target Oriented Teams
Lack of creativity and innovation
Ineffective team collaboration
Barriers and Lack of Clarity in
Communication
Technical Glitches
Difficulty in meeting work
Limited Resources
Psychological Capital -
Any 2 Constructs or 1
Construct
Difficulty in Managing Conflict
Ineffective Time Management
Ineffectiveness due to lack of
Personal Contact
Lack of physical interaction
challenge in many circumstances. The
respondents said that video conferencing
platforms and virtual communication
engenders a sense of disconnect amidst the
time when they are experiencing
widespread social isolation and stress due
to the pandemic. They felt that the
uncertainty and the apprehensions lead to a
lack of focus which results incompromised
job performance and job effectiveness.
Moreover, the new expectation about the
conditions of remote work has intruded and
impeded the right balance to drive
productivity, engagement, and job
performance of the remote workforce
across the teams, departments, and
locations in many cases felt the
respondents.
Category 3: Detracting Job Performance and Job Effectiveness

106
Figure 2.2: Figure showing the influence of any TWO or ONE constructs of Psychological
Capital (Self-Efficacy, Hope, Optimism, and Resilience) on Job Performance and Job
Effectiveness of remote e-workers.
from respondents who experienced a
detracting job performance and job
effectiveness due to this unforeseen and
abrupt transformation to the virtual
workspace. The respondents who were not
sure of the influence of the psychological
capital or responded only a single or couple
of constructs responsible for their job
performance and effectiveness was found
to experience a major challenge in coping
with this transition. A majority of them felt
apprehensive and isolated being
disconnected from their physical work-
spaces. Additionally, minimal or absolute
lack of contact with peers worsened this
anxiety (Bailey and Kurland, 2020). Lack
of effective communication also
accentuated this feeling due to diminished
organizational identification among remote
workers (Ammons and Markham, 2004).
Again, the responses showed the
transformation from office spaces to remote
and virtual workspace has influenced the
employee-manager relationship because of
the inevitable changes in the nature and
recurrence of the communication. They felt
that lack of face-to-face communication has
affected prompt feedback from supervisors
and managers and hence is negatively
correlated to the employee-manager
relationship (Gajendran and Harrison,
2007). Finally, the respondents feel that the
impact on coordination, compliance, and
teamwork among the employees in the
virtual workspace has invariably influenced
individual and group productivity.
7. Discussion and Implications of the
Study
From the interview and the thematic
analysis of the respondents, it was found
that for a majority of the respondents the
transition from the physical to remote and
virtual workspace was a maiden
experience. However, respondents who
were aware and considerate and nurtured
their psychological capital (Self-Efficacy,
Resilience, Hope, and Optimism) were
found to cope with this unprecedented
transformation effectively and were more
productive as compared to those who were
not aware and considerate about the
psychological capital.
A majority i.e., 23.8% of the respondents
consider self-efficacy as the most
significant factor which determines their
job performance and job effectiveness in
this paradigm of the shift of workspace due
to this global pandemic. Campbell et.al
(1993) proclaims that even though the
effort is not the lone predictor of
performance, however, it is a significant
factor. (Avey et.al 2010) have pointed out
that self-efficacy is one of the indispensable
parts of psychological capital which
determines the job performance of an
employee through unrelenting efforts.Self-
efficacy, as defined, is the conviction in an
individual’s ability to accomplish a specific
set of goals (Luthans and Youssef, 2004;
2007a) and because of the distinctiveness of
the present scenario, an individual assesses
the chance of succeeding for the set of
actions in these abrupt circumstances and
undertakes this action set depending on the
perceived extent of self-efficacy of that
person Avey et.al (2010). Self-efficacy can
be explained as a human resource strength
that has the psychological capacity for
growth, development, and effective
performance management. It is the
confidence in one’s abilities to mobilize the
resources and the courses of action to
successfully execute a particular task
(Luthans & Youssef, 2004).
All the four factors namely self-efficacy,
optimism, hope, and resilience have
influenced the job performance and job
effectiveness of 22.8% of respondents to
adapt to these new working conditions. The

107
respondents felt that with no established
monitoring process and personal
distractions employees may compromise on
achieving the goals and targets.
Additionally, the missing body language of
the team and the least social interaction
among the employees may comprise the job
performance and job effectiveness of the
employees to a certain extent. Many
respondents from manufacturing sectors
have experienced that their job
performance and effectiveness has almost
zeroed down, as in mechanical engineering,
for example, process planning,
manufacturing, assembling, and quality
check cannot be done remotely from home;
only the designing can do remotely,
however, the application is not possible.
The respondents from the field ofacademia
found a few shortcomings whichdelivering
online lectures. They thought that even
though completion of syllabi is happening,
however, it couldn’t assure the extent of
learning on the part of students as they
believe that teaching involves a lot of
intangible factors in addition to taking
classes that are not facilitated effectively in
remote working which affects the job
effectiveness considerably. Thus, in this
circumstance of the COVID-19 pandemic,
where the data-enabled services areinfused
into almost every aspect of work life,
respondents felt that a combination of the
belief in one’s competence levels to reacha
certain goal (self-efficacy), developing a
positive attribution for both the present
moment and the future (optimism),
uncovering alternative means for attaining
the goals (hope) and having the ability to
turn back when encountered with
challenges to reach those goals is
imperative (resilience) is imperative.
(Luthans et.al; 2005) have also underlined
that a blend of these factors imparts a
stronger association in job performance of
employees as compared to an individual
factor, demonstrating a collective
mechanism between them. (Luthans et al;
2007) have also stated that the employees
who are more hopeful, optimistic,
efficacious, and resilient may be more
likely to weather the competition from the
dynamic and global environmental
conditions confronting organizations
Again 15.2% of the respondents felt that a
combination of the individual competence
towards reaching a specific goal (self-
efficacy) and the ability to rebound when
encountered with challenges (resilience) be
the primary factors responsible for their job
performance and job effectiveness while
working remotely. Self-efficacious
individuals are likely to manage their work
and problems as they set new challenges
which in turn expand their experience base
(Lewis, 2011). Such individuals hold a
stronger belief in their ability to
successfully perform challenging tasks, set
even more challenging goals for
themselves, and invest more resources and
can handle failure better than individuals
with low self-efficacy (Heaven et.al; 2006),
which is the key in reaching goals
effectively in the present global pandemic.
(Avey et.al; 2010) have also mentioned that
when a sudden impediment takes place,
resilience enables employees to rebound to
the direction of the goal by imparting
techniques that restrict or removes the non-
functioning of the employees. Resilience is
found to be most effective in augmenting
employee performance when faced with a
chaotic and stressful environment (Avey
et.al; 2010) which describes the present
scenario of the global pandemic. Resilience
enables employees to counter optimally
after experiencing an unavoidable
hindrance which working towards a
specific goal (Avey et.al; 2010). Thus,
these two factors combining enable
individuals to overcome the setbacks to
move towards the pre-fixed goal which is
inevitable in the present scenario of the
global pandemic.
The respondents expressed a mixed
reaction about the new natural situation of
remote working or working from home in
the prevailing situation of global lockdown
due to COVID-19. While the majority of

108
the respondents felt that a lot ofcommuting
time has been saved which otherwise
extracts a huge amount of energy and that
the respondents have the leverage of time to
schedule and complete their work in a
relaxed environment which has also been
pointed out by Hayman( 2010) where he
has found that flexibility in time has greater
advantages in reducing the role overload as
well as maintaining the work-life balance of
the employees effectively, again the
privilege of being around the family
members and having the access to the
home-cooked food are also certain
advantages of working from home which
the respondents felt. They conformed to the
fact that this sudden new normal will enable
reducing carbon footprints to a great extent
and from the infrastructural point of view
will reduce a lot of expenses in fixed costs.
However, at the same time, they believe
that the factors like the absence of physical
office infrastructure, inability to interact
with colleagues sitting next to in case of any
need is one of the major challenges. The
respondents feel, even with technology at
their fingertips, many a time it is a
challenge to motivate a team or a group to
work effectively towards the organizational
goals by pulling the entire team for a
prompt response. The majority of the
respondents, despite availing the advantage
of working in the comfort zone of their own
spaces came across certain challenges
which are mentioned as follows:
a. As a result of working remotely due to
the COVID-19 pandemic, the balance
between professional life and personal life
were greatly disturbed mostly because there
are a lot of distractions from the inmates
around and one is expected to deal with
issues of the family being at home and this
overlap reduces the invigorating effects of
home (Hartig et al., 2007).
b. Tending to overexert working hours has
also been reported as one of the challenges
by the respondents where they end up
working the whole day mostly because,
working in an unsettling environment
where there is no clock-out time and dozens
of work to be done, respondents many times
have pushed them into exhaustion which
has also been pointed out by Grant et.al
(2016) where they found that an overlap
results due to working from home which is
considered as a place of return and
combining work and home bustle at the
same place lead to overworking. On the
contrary, some respondents felt that lack of
organizational control and working in an
unsettling environment at a point makes
them overestimate the time or take the work
casually unless the deadline is on the
horizon abruptly affecting their job
performance to a certain extent.
c. Another major challenge of remote
working pointed out by the respondents is
the communication issue, to transcribe the
necessary information due to lack of face-
to-face interactions making the team
activities complex, they also felt that the
hurdles in immediate departmental and
cross-departmental collaboration increase
the decision making time and the job
effectiveness is affected at times as one is
unaware about how the other person feels
or are unable to perceive the non-verbal
communication of the team effectively
when compared to physical interaction,
difficulty in getting the exact input about
proceeding with the job, lack of effective
interpersonal relationships with the team
and across the levels which is the key to
accomplish tasks in a team.
d. Almost every sector, with exception to
the manufacturing sector and research and
development primarily in physical sciences
and life sciences are dependent on
technology and when the world is getting
the business done mostly on the Zoom
platform, internet connectivity and speedin
countries like India have also posed
challenges at times in the job performance
of the respondents. Campbell and Mc
Donald (2007) has emphasized the primary
role of technical implements and suitable
authority mechanisms for effective remote
working.

109
e. COVID-19 pandemic has posed a
significant challenge on theself-motivation
of some respondents and hence on their job
performance and job effectiveness. The
new normal practice of setting owns
working hours, absence of repeated dosage
of motivation, briefing and follow up from
the managers and the peers in physical
space and relying completely on own self-
control often leads to debacle according to
certain respondents. They felt that without
a structured environment of office space it
is easy to get off- the track which ranges
from sitting on a personal computer with
many distractions starting from a quick
peek on the social media, to a bunch of
family members around, to a sudden
interference of an unwanted visitor can
throw them off the schedule for hours.Siha
and Monroe (2006) have pointed out the
significance of certain managerialpractices
for effectively executing the remote
working as the support from the managers
which includes selecting the right man at
the right place and redesigning the
managerial practices specific to remote
working; support from the employee's
likeability of employees to self-discipline,
effective time management, and self-
motivation; finally appropriate and ample
accessibility of technology tools to
facilitate the process.
Conceptual Framework
f. The need to cut oneself from people
whom they are habituated to meeting every
day made quite a few respondents feel
lonely and in certain cases has affected the
job effectiveness which has also been
pointed out by Mann and Holdswoth (2003)
where they have found that working
remotely even though reduces stress when
compared to normal office-work, however,
increases the loneliness, bad temper and
negative emotions like being anxious
among employees which could be ascribed
due to social remoteness and the hindrance
in sharing problems with the co-workers
(Mann and Holdswoth, 2003)
Respondents especially at the middle and
higher-level managerial positions felt that
organizational control is a significant factor
for effective job performance in the new
work from home policies which has
separated a large number of employees and
their managers abruptly for the first time
which involves putting the competencies,
functioning and achievement of the work-
force in line with the organizational goals
and objectives (Snell, 1992; Tannenbaum,
1968). Organizational control involves and
is based on a combination of the role of
managers and subordinates in
implementing the control for the expected
job performance and effectiveness
(Errichiello and Pianese, 2016).

110
Lack of Organisational Control, Challenges in Effective
Communication, increased decision-making time,
Compromised Role and Task Clarity, Challenges in
understanding the reciprocation of team members, Loss
of camaraderie to certain extent, Challenges in Guidance
and Mentorship, Challenges in channelizing and
supervising the team towards organizational goals
ORGANIZATIONAL
FACTORS
PSYCHOLOGICAL
CAPITAL
-SELF EFFICACY
-OPTIMISM
-HOPE
-RESILIENCE
Influence of social media
Social Distancing
SOCIAL FACTORS
JOB
PERFORMA
NCE AND
JOB
EFFECTIVE
NESS OF
REMOTE e-
WORKING
Conceptual Framework: Researchers’ elaboration
Based on the review of the literature and the
semi-structured interview on psychological
capital the way it influences job
performance and job effectiveness, the
conceptual framework has been developed.
The antecedent which has influenced the
job performance and effectiveness of the
respondents is the psychological capital
(self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and
resilience) by influencing how a respondent
can deal with the individual norms, social
norms, and the organizational norms of
remote working or the work from home
(WFH) due to the global pandemic. The
framework explicates the intricacies of
individual, social and organizational factors
and the role of psychological capital in
dealing with these factors, and how it has
Absence of focussed work space, Anxiety, Home
Environment, Over-lapping work and personal life
balance, Family expectations and responsibilities,
Lack of effective time management, Individual
discipline & effectiveness, Sincerity, Self-
Motivation, Ambition, Technical glitches like issues
with the speed of internet connection and power
failure
INDIVIDUAL
Influence of Psychological Capital (PSY CAP) on the Job Performance
and Job Effectiveness of Remote Employees during COVID-19 Pandemic

111
shaped the job performance and job
effectiveness of the respondents.
8. Conclusion
COVID -19 has resulted in making the
words “Lock-down”, “Social Distancing”,
“Quarantine” an integral part of the livesof
people globally to the extent that it is
governing the professional and personal
lives of the people around the world. The
norm of remote working or work from
home (WFH) which was considered a
luxury and an in many cases an impossible
phenomenon is presently the new normal of
work. The present study found both
opportunities and challenges of remote
working where on one side work from
home (WFH) enables an individual to have
a better-balanced life which can lead to
effective job performance and job
effectiveness. The time saved from
traveling along with pliability to stay at the
comfort zone of the home can enables an
individual to take care of the family chores
and get some “me-time”. A study by
Wheatly (2012) also shows a higher level of
satisfaction among the employees working
remotely due to flexibility in the working
hours and utilization of the available time
in household errands mostly for women
employees. However, the sudden shift of
work infrastructure from physical office
spaces to the corners of the home has posed
certain challenges on the workforce starting
from the overlapping of work and family
life which has also been argued by
Dimitrova (2003) that though remote
working enhances the flexibility; it may
also increase the workload. While working
alone over the day switching between video
conferencing, to what's app messages, to
discussing and sharing information on a
conjoint platform may not only drain an
individual physically and cognitively; they
may also feel social isolation which has also
been supported in the study of Mann et al.
(2000) which showed the negative features
experienced by an individual due to lack of
human interaction in the physical space.
Thus, psychological capital (self-efficacy,
optimism, hope, and resilience) plays a very
significant role in this global pandemic to
enable effective job performance and job
effectiveness, of the remote team. The role
of both the manager and team members
complements each other for this outcome
by facilitating effective communication
from both parties.
9. Limitations of the Study
Generalisability was limited in the current
study because of the limited qualitative
sample. However, it has beenmentioned by
Gibson and Brown (2009) that is imperative
to study the sample which is representative
of the topic. For the present study, the
remote workers who have been working
primarily in the office infrastructure and
have started working remotely, work from
home (WFH) due to the lockdown because
of the global COVID-19 pandemic have
been selected. The interviews conducted
virtually were exhaustive which has
contributed to the opulence of the collected
data.
9.1. Implication for the managers
• The managers need to be aware of the
fact that the majority of their employees are
exposed to remote working without
adequate grounding and thus they need to
facilitate a smooth transition of this new
norm of work by having more 1-to-1
communication, trying to understanding
than ever before by paying attention to their
emotional challenges or enabling them set-
up their virtual work stations.
• Being compassionate is the key to deal
with the remote teams in the present
scenario of the global pandemic where the
managers need to understand and
acknowledge the apprehensionexperienced
by the employees.
• The clarity in providing relevant
information to the target teams in a timely
and structured manner is important.
Communicating clear expectations and
providing timely feedback is significant as
it may avoid ambiguity, revelation, and
differences between the managers and the

112
team members and lead the team towards
the expected outcome.
9.2. Implication for the remote team
members
• An employee needs to be self-aware
and develop a habit of continuously
reaching their managers and peers to enable
clarity of the work as remote working does
not imply working in isolation; it implies
that one should exploit alternative
pathways to connect with the system.
Communication is one of the most
dominant factors for effective remote
working and thus employees need to deliver
a lucid and clear message to avoid
misunderstanding
• Time management is one of the key
factors which lead to better productivity.
Although remote working allows a certain
degree of flexibility, however, it is
significant for employees to be consistent to
start and bring a halt to a day’s work at
specific times. Employees also need totake
breaks at regular intervals for few minutes
to lighten up to avoid feeling overwhelmed.
• The employees need to develop an
effective home-office space – a quiet area
that is distant from the epicenter of the
chaos of home and keep that space
systematic to avoid distraction from the
family members and children being around,
round the clock.
• Befriending technology is importantas
during global pandemic COVID-19 when
almost the entire world is on lockdown,
technology is connecting the world ofwork
and the team members need to embrace this
change effectively.
• A sudden switch to remote working
due to the COVID-19 pandemic may lead
to loneliness because of the absence of the
team members abruptly. Sudden social
isolation may impact the mental health of
the team members. It is important to make
out time for jovial interaction with
colleagues virtually for consistent job
performance and job effectiveness in the
long run
• A sudden shift to remote working due
to the COVID-19 pandemic may have an
impact on the health of the employees due
to unexpected changes in routine and thus
exercising, wholesome eating, getting
adequate sleep is extremely important for
consistent job performance and job
effectiveness.
• Being self-motivated and having self-
discipline is significant for effective remote
working, to avoid indulging oneself in
distractions like peeping into the social
media or concentrating on the non-work
content during the working hours. It is
important to keep the phone out of easy
reach except for the calls from superiors,
clients, or colleagues. In absence of a
physical vigilant manager or peer, it is often
likely that the work gets piled up until the
deadline is reached. Thus, being self-
vigilant with the time spent doing the actual
work is the key to job performance and job
effectiveness and prevents blurring the
personal and professional life balance.
Psychological Capital enables both the
managers and team members to reach the
desired job performance and job
effectiveness of remote working by having
confidence in their abilities to be able to
exploit the resources to effectively execute
a definite task (Stajkovic and Luthans,
1998), to be able to develop positive
provenance for the present moment and the
future, to be able to locate alternative ways
to reach the goals when faced with
challenges and to be able to rebound to
achieve the goals when experienced with
set-backs ( Luthans and Youssef, 2004;
2007a). Managers can enhance the
pliability of psychological capital and its
components (self-efficacy, optimism,hope,
resilience) among the employeesmediating
the human resources (Luthans et al., 2007,
p. 563; Demerouti et al., 2011; Peterson et
al., 2011). This can be attributed to the fact
that psychological capital neither represents
psychological “states” like emotions that do
not alter in momentary circumstances nor
do they represent “traits” like various

113
personality traits, intelligence, etc which
are permanent and unalterable. They are
state-like dimensions and thus are
comparatively pliable (Luthans et al.,2007,
p. 563; Demerouti et al., 2011; Peterson et
al., 2011). Future research can be directed
towards enabling the virtual work teams to
understand psychological capital and how
can it lead to positive work behavior when
working with teams which have suddenly
started working remotely due to the global
pandemic. The construct can bejudiciously
nurtured and exploited by the managers to
manage remote teams by giving them
adequate flexibility and liberty to work on
their deliverables, by being considerate
about the emotional needs of teams, the
relationship with the team members, and
primarily the experience levels of the
members. The remote team members must
have that liberty to express their anxiety,
issues, and apprehensions and have
effective participation for the desired job
performance and job effectiveness.
Psychological capital has surfaced as the
most important organizational behavior
construct and has been correlated to
positive attitudes namely satisfaction (Avey
et al., 2011), subjective performance (Choi
and Lee, 2014), feelings of empowerment
(Avey et al., 2008), self-perceptions of
competence and growth (Combs et al.,
2012), psychological well-being (Avey et
al., 2011), as well as positive behaviors
such as objective performance (Avey et al.,
2010) and citizenship behaviors (Avey et
al., 2011) and will continue to play a
prominent role in managing remote work
teams during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Managers need to be resilient, empathetic
and need to categorize the well-being of
employees in this global pandemic for the
optimal job performance and job
effectiveness because “At the end of the day
people won’t remember what you said or
did, they will remember how you made them
feel”- Maya Angelou.
10. References
• Allen, T.D. (2000), “Family-
supportive work environments: the role of
organisational perceptions”, Journal of
Vocational Behaviour, Vol. 58 No. 4, pp.
414-435, doi: 10.1006/jvbe.2000.1774.
• Allvin, M., Aronsson, G.,
Hagstrom, T., Johansson, G. and Lundberg,
U. (2011), Work Without Boundaries,
Psychological Perspectives on the New
Working Life, Wiley-Blackwell,
Chichester.
• Ammons, S.K. and Markham, W.T.
(2004), “Working at home: experiences of
skilled white-collar worker”, Sociological
Spectrum, Vol. 24 No. 2, pp. 191-238.
• Ashforth, B.E., Harrison, S.H. and
Corley, K.G. (2008), “Identification in
organization: an examination of four
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