The Moderating Role of Employee Training between Psychological Capital and Employee Engagement in the Educational Sector of Pakistan

Abstract

This study examines the relationship between psychological capital (PsyCap) and employee engagement among staff working in Pakistan's educational sector and tests whether employee training moderates this relationship. Using a structured questionnaire adapted from established scales (Luthans et al., 2007a, 2007b; Schaufeli et al., 2006; Noe, 1986), data were collected from 440 respondents (teaching faculty, administrative staff, and department heads/principals) across public-sector, private-sector, and school-level institutions in Pakistan. After data cleaning, 430 valid responses were retained for analysis. Reliability analysis confirmed acceptable to good internal consistency for psychological capital (α = .835) and employee engagement (α = .830), while the employee-training scale showed borderline reliability (α = .630). Hierarchical moderated regression showed that both psychological capital (β = .332, p < .001) and employee training (β = .613, p < .001) significantly and positively predicted employee engagement, jointly explaining 49.34% of its variance. However, the PsyCap × Training interaction term was not statistically significant (ΔR² = .001, F change = 1.10, p = .294), indicating that, in this sample, employee training did not significantly moderate the psychological-capital-to-engagement relationship. Instead, training emerged as an independent, strong predictor of engagement in its own right. Implications for HR practice in Pakistani educational institutions and directions for future research are discussed.

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