Research on Psychological Capital of University Teachers (2010–2025): A Bibliometric Analysis

Psychological capital (PsyCap) has received increasing attention as a positive psychological resource associated with teachers’ performance, well-being, and professional development. This study provides a bibliometric analysis of research on teachers’ psychological capital to examine its knowledge structure, thematic evolution, and intellectual foundations. A total of 340 English-language articles and reviews indexed in the Web of Science Core Collection were analyzed using CiteSpace and VOSviewer. Keyword co-occurrence, thematic clustering, temporal evolution, and co-citation analyses were conducted to identify major research themes and influential knowledge bases. The findings show that the literature is primarily centered on performance, job satisfaction, burnout, stress, work engagement, self-efficacy, and psychological resources. Over time, research has shifted from examining direct occupational outcomes toward more complex themes involving psychological mechanisms, well-being, professional identity, career development, and organizational sustainability. Co-citation analyses further reveal an interdisciplinary intellectual foundation integrating positive organizational behavior, conservation of resources theory, self-efficacy, and work engagement perspectives. The study maps the development of this research field and identifies directions for future research on teachers’ psychological capital across educational contexts.