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Since the introduction of psychological capital to the field of education, it has drawn a lot of interest from researchers. This is due to the numerous studies that have demonstrated the positive effects of psychological capital on academic performance. Nevertheless, the psychological capital scale was initially developed to measure the psychological capital of employees, not students. There is a dearth of studies that examine the psychological capital scale’s psychometric properties in educational contexts, particularly in Southeast Asia. Therefore, the present study aims to develop and test the validity of an educational psychological capital scale. The study was carried out with the participation of a total of 2,494 undergraduates. The tests of indicator reliability, construct reliability convergent, validity, and discriminant validity were executed. The result revealed that the scale demonstrated satisfactory psychometric properties. The study also found psychological capital can serve as a positive predictor of student academic performance. It signified that the scale can be used to measure student psychological capital precisely. This has resolved the flaw of the original psychological capital scale, which measured students’ psychological capital in the workplace rather than in educational settings. However, since the study was conducted in Malaysia, the psychometric properties of the scale can be further verified in other countries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Employee performance plays a crucial role in the productivity of organizations, especially in the hospitality industry in Malaysia. This work performance is influenced by leadership style, and finding the type of leadership style that is suitable to apply to employees is crucial, especially in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Transformational leadership theory is selected for this study in determining leadership styles. There are four dimensions under transformational leadership theory, namely idealized influence, individualized consideration, inspirational motivation and intellectual stimulation. Data were collected online from 400 employees working in the hospitality industry in Malaysia and analyzed using partial least square structure equation modeling (PLS-SEM). The findings show that only two dimensions of transformational leadership, namely idealized influence and inspirational motivation, have a significant positive influence on employee performance. Implications in the context of human resource management and recommendations to increase employee performance are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]