Virtues, work experiences and psychological well‐being among managerial women in a Turkish bank

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between virtues and indicators of work engagement, satisfaction, and psychological well‐being among a large sample of managerial and professional women working in a large Turkish bank. Managerial women in Turkey, as elsewhere, are under‐represented at senior levels of management. A virtue is any psychological process that enables a person to benefit herself or himself and others. Design/methodology/approach Data are collected from 286 managerial and professional women using anonymously completed questionnaires, a 72 percent response rate. Two virtues are considered: Optimism and Proactive Behavior. Findings Optimism and Proactive Behavior are significantly and positively correlated. Hierarchical regression analyses, controlling for both personal demographic and work situation characteristics, indicate that virtues account for significant increments in explained variance on all outcome measures. Optimism emerges as a particularly consistent predictor of these. Research limitations/implications The research data are collected at one point in time, limiting the understanding of causality. Practical implications Suggestions for increasing levels of virtues through training are offered based on previous theory. Originality/value This paper contributes to the emerging literature in positive organizational scholarship on the relationship of virtues to individual health and performance in work settings.