Abstract:

Psychological capital has proven to be a critical resource for employees desirable attitudes like satisfaction, commitment or well-being, desirable behaviours and performance. Furthermore, the PsyCap of followers benefits from PsyCap of leaders, however, despite some evidence, the conditions of that cross-over are largely unknown. This study explores the importance of three factors: age difference between leader and employee, leaders’ age and organizational justice as moderators of the effect of leaders’ PsyCap on followers’ PsyCap. Using the data from random sample of 406 senior manager-direct subordinate dyads I confirm the PsyCap cross-over effect. Moreover, I find that the effect is stronger for older leaders and when the organizational justice is higher. The article concludes with practical implications and limitations of these findings and directions for future research.