VALIDITY, RELIABILITY, AND FACTOR STRUCTURE OF POSITIVE PSYCHOLOGICAL CAPITAL AT WORK: A STUDY OF PROFESSIONALS FROM DIFFERENT OCCUPATIONAL FIELDS IN THE POST-PANDEMIC CONTEXT

The present study aimed to evaluate the factorial structure and psychometric consistency of the Positive Psychological Capital at Work Scale (PPCW) among professionals from different occupational fields. Grounded in the perspective of Positive Organizational Psychology, PPCW is a construct related to the positive psychological resources mobilized by employees to cope with work demands, promote personal and professional development, and contribute to well-being in organizational settings. The study included 435 professionals working in the healthcare, education, and justice sectors, who completed the Positive Psychological Capital at Work Scale and a sociodemographic questionnaire electronically. The results of exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses revealed satisfactory psychometric indicators, supporting the consistency of the factorial structure and the measurement invariance of the construct across the three occupational groups investigated. Regarding mean scores, both the overall PPCW score and its dimensions showed values approaching the upper limits of their respective scales, suggesting high levels of positive psychological capital among participants. These findings supported the proposed hypotheses and provided favorable evidence of the instrument's psychometric adequacy across different occupational contexts. It is concluded that PPCW represents a relevant construct for understanding the cognitive, affective, and behavioral resources associated with positive psychological development, constituting an important dimension for investigating adaptation to professional demands, job satisfaction, and well-being in the workplace.