Psychological Net Worth: Finding the Balance between Psychological Capital and Psychological Debt

This study examined a proposed framework of psychological net worth that builds on the current psychological capital conceptualization of positive psychological assets provided to an organization by articulating the construct of psychological debt or those psychological liabilities in an organization identified as organizational commitment, organizational citizenship behaviors, professionalism and subjective-wellbeing. Psychological debt is described as the negative individual attributes that hamper productivity, morale and effectiveness in organizations and are described using the dimension of emotional labor, job insecurity, job stress, job deviance, and stigmatic injustice. Data were collected from 166 third and fourth year medical students and 56 physician mentors in a Midwestern medical school using Hierarchical Linear Modeling with results indicating several significant relationships between Psychological Capital and Psychological Debt, including an interactive effect with psychological capital and psychological debt on organizational outcomes.