Social capital and organizational commitment: What role does positive psychological capital play?

Rita Karmakar; Rajrupa Lahiri; Somprakash Bandyopadhyay

doi:10.17323/2312-5942-2025-15-4-267-279

Rita Karmakar Amity University Kolkata, Major Arterial Road, AA II, Newtown, Kadampukur, West Bengal 700135, India. https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0826-8816
Rajrupa Lahiri Amity University Kolkata, Major Arterial Road, AA II, Newtown, Kadampukur, West Bengal 700135, India. https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9219-8736
Somprakash Bandyopadhyay Indian Institute of Management Calcutta, Calcutta, India; Center for Career and Life Design Counselling Kolkata , Kolkata, India https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9219-8736

DOI: https://doi.org/10.17323/2312-5942-2025-15-4-267-279

Keywords: organizational commitment, social capital, positive psychological capital, cross-sectional

Abstract

Social capital is the hidden potential in the relations among society’s members and groups which facilitates social relations and leads to increased collaboration and participation. Social capitalis comprised of three aspects: structural, relational and cognitive. Developing social capital may help in reducing lack of motivation, lack of cooperation and absenteeism and thereby facilitating organizational commitment. Purpose. The objectives of the present study are as follows: 1) to determine the difference between public and private sector faculty members with respect to different dimensions of social capital; to find out the relationship between social capital and organizational commitment and 3) to determine whether the relationship between social capital and organizational commitment is moderated by psychological capital. Study design. The study was cross-sectional in nature in which data collected from public and private sector faculty members at a single point in time. Data were collected from 278 faculty members from private and public sector universities, colleges and institutions. Findings. The findings suggest that public and private sector faculty members do differ with respect to social capital. Results also reveal that affective and normative commitment dimensions are positively and significantly related to all dimensions of social capital. Self-efficacy and resilience dimensions of psychological capital positively moderated the relationship between social capital and organizational commitment. Implications forpractice. The study has several organizational implications such as designing on-the-job and off-the-job training programs to inculcate different dimensions of social and positive psychological capital among employees. Despite having some implications, the study has some limitations as well. Value of the results.The results of the study have immense value in the organizational setup, especially after COVID-19 era which had a significant impact on organizational commitment.

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