Investigating how to achieve a sustainable competitive advantage in the light of positive psychological capital (case study: National Iranian Petrochemical Company)

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

1 Ph.D. candidate in human resource management, Department of Public Administration, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran.

2 Associate Professor of production and operation, Department of Industrial Management, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran.

3 Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, Ardakan University, Iran

4 Professor of Marketing, Department of Management, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran

5 Asistant Professor of management, Department of Public Administrator, Yazd Branch, Islamic Azad University, Yazd, Iran

10.22080/shrm.2021.3772

Abstract

The present study aimed to offer a model to gain sustainable competitive advantage on the basis of positive psychological capital. The approach in the study is a mix of quantitative and qualitative with a pragmatic paradigm approach. From purpose view, it is an applied research and the method selected for the study is descriptive survey. Participant of the survey were managers and elites of National Iranian Petrochemical Company (NIPC) and some other companies active in petrochemical industry and were selected using nonrandom sampling method. In qualitative section of the study, data collected from semi-structured interviews with 17 elites in the industry were analyzed, using qualitative content analysis method in AtlasTi.8, and all conceptual model and concepts were extracted. In quantitative section, data were collected using questionnaires and the final research model was evaluated and prepared using Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) method. SEM results in AMOS26 software showed that positive psychological capital affects sustainable competitive advantage through direct and indirect impact on other variables, as social capital, human capital, intellectual capital, organizational citizenship behavior (OCB), knowledge management and innovative work behavior. So, to achieve sustainable competitive advantage, positive psychological capital plays the pivotal role comparing other human resource capitals. Social capital is the second most important variable in this regard. The study findings include different indices and factors effective in achieving sustainable competitive advantage and present of an optimized model to reach sustainable competitive advantage on the basis of positive psychological capital in NIPC.

Keywords

References

 
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Journal of Sustainable Human Resource Management
Volume 3, Issue 5
October 2021
Pages 179-153

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