Adaptation and validation to Spanish of the Psychological Capital Questionnaire–12 (PCQ–12) in academic contexts

Psychological Capital is a construct that is experiencing strong growth within the framework of Positive Psychology. In work contexts, it has been related to employee performance, wellbeing, attitudes, and behaviors. In educational contexts, particularly non–English–speaking contexts, there is hardly any research on this topic, mostly due to the lack of assessment and measurement instruments. In general, most studies use the Psychological Capital Questionnaire (PCQ) by Luthans et al. (Personnel Psychology, 60(3), 541–572, 2007) as a measure. The purpose of the present study is the validation of a 12–item PCQ that is adapted to the academic context and translated to Spanish. A sample of 1126 undergraduate students from two different universities located in Spain (n = 596) and Chile (n = 530) participated in the study. The current study demonstrates –through reliability (alpha and omega indexes), single group and multiple group confirmatory factor analysis, and criterion validity (Pearson’s correlations)– that the Spanish academic PCQ–12 is a reliable and valid indicator of academic psychological capital.