Introduction

Health problems are increasing continuously in rural and urban areas that make the public hospitals important for every single individual. Of course, the Covid-19 pandemic has made the situation worse and more stressful on most healthcare professionals around the globe as this infection has already killed over 2 million people and infected more than 80 million around the globe by the end of 2020 (Korman & Mujtaba, 2020). According to Mastrangelo et al. (2014), the effectiveness of an organization (mainly hospitals) depends on the performance of employees. In hospitals, it is acknowledged that task of the nurses are extremely important to provide proper healthcare to all the patients (Sheehan et al., 2019). Problems like low pay, patient’s family anger, problematic work plans and role stress are major problems to the psychological wellness of nurses (Karatepe, 2013; Solnet & Hood, 2008; Yavas et al., 2008). There are many factors such as psychological capital (Boxall & Purcell, 2011), psychological climate (Jiang et al., 2012a), and job embeddedness (Chen & Francesco, 2003) that can be helpful to counter these problems and also to increase the performance productivity of nurses.

Psychological capital is the positive psychological state of individuals, having four components such as self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience. Self-efficacy belief is about confidence on abilities to complete challenging responsibilities. Optimism is all about making an optimistic acknowledgement to make sure of present and future success. Hope is being determined toward objectives in order to prosper, and resiliency is required when one is affected by troubles and difficulties, to sustain and bounce back to attain accomplishment (Luthans et al., 2008a). Studies tell us that psychological capital normally correlates to performance (Avey et al., 2011). When employees become more positive it will help them to deal with the challenges in the workplace which eventually leads to increase their performance outcomes (Peterson et al., 2011).

While job embeddedness might be considered as an anti-withdrawal concept, studies have exposed that it also has an effect upon employee performance (Lev & Koslowsky, 2012). Researchers hypothesize job embeddedness as a state of ample resources by using conservation of resource theory (Wheeler, 2012). They claim that job embeddedness stimulates performance due to resources availability as a result of their embeddedness with work. There are many factors behind the relationship of job embeddedness and performance. Employees who feel suitable with their jobs (fit), attached to people and projects (links), and who have trust and abandon the valued things if they leave (sacrifice), are probably motivated to do well (Tian et al., 2016).

Although there are many factors that have impact on employee performance, such as human capital investments (Bapna et al., 2013), this study turns its attention on psychological climate. It is not shocking that psychological climate literature has concentrated on the role that it can play in inducing employee performance (Sackmann, 2011). Psychological climate effects employee’s approaches and actions and later their performance levels (Jiang et al., 2012b). According to Erkutlu (2012), it also affects employee proactivity level. Particularly, psychological climate can raise positive job attitudes among nurses employed in long-term care facilities. This research study tries to address and prolong the psychological climate literature by identifying one such mechanism, particularly in a healthcare context.

Performance can be defined as the efficiency of the person in performing his or her roles and responsibilities (Schechner, 2017). In organizational research, performance is observed as feelings and characteristics concerned with their work (Shields et al., 2015). Employees are the most significant resource and life of the organizations (Hewagama et al., 2019). It is important to recognize the variables linked with the employee performance through empirical studies. The employee performance is closely associated with the feelings of employees and their perception about their job (Li et al., 2017). Many psychological and environmental factors have impact on employee performance. Numerous studies observed that employee performance is often studied in relation to supportive climate (Khan et al., 2014).

The main purpose of the current study is to analyze the psychological capital and job embeddedness as predictive factors of employee performance among public hospital nurses (Abbas & Raja, 2015). This study aims to inspect the impact of psychological capital on employee performance, essentially focusing on the mediating role of job-embeddedness (Luthans et al., 2008b) and the moderating role of psychological climate (Gentry et al., 2007).

Pakistan, having an annual growth rate of 9.2%, is considered as a fastest growing and populous country in the world (Coale & Hoover, 2015). Public healthcare sector, including public hospitals is considered one of the major sources of healthcare facilities. In Pakistan, nurses are facing many problems such as heavy workload and stress which negatively impact their performance in hospitals (Irfan et al., 2012). Nursing is a significant component of patient care and an important factor in providing healthcare services to patients in public as well as private hospitals. According to the previous literature, factors like stress negatively affect the nurses’ performance which badly affect the patient care and eventually results in high death rates (Sveinsdottir et al., 2006). A noticeable stream of literature has claimed, employees are more engaged with their work and spend more time in organization when they have high potential for satisfying their psychological needs (Foss et al., 2015). The supportive environment in any organization is a main source of competitive advantage for business organizations (Kataria et al., 2013). These are the main reasons why this research will be conducted and the proposed study is going to answer the following research questions:

  1. 1.

    What is the impact of psychological capital on employee performance?

  2. 2.

    What is the effect of psychological capital on job embeddedness?

  3. 3.

    What is the influence of job embeddedness on employee performance?

  4. 4.

    Does job embeddedness mediate the relationship between psychological capital and employee performance?

  5. 5.

    Does psychological climate moderate the relationship between psychological capital and job embeddedness?

Literature Review

Through ideas from the evolving fields of positive organizational behavior (Wright, 2003), positive organizational scholarship (Cameron et al., 2003), and positive psychology (Peterson, 2006; Seligman & Csikszentmihalyi, 2014), the construct of psychological capital was developed by Luthans and his colleagues, in order to capture the psychological abilities of an individual. These abilities of individuals can be measured and developed to improve performance (Luthans & Youssef, 2004). From the positive psychology literature, researchers have identified four main psychological resources, which are confidence to succeed (self-efficacy), the will and the way of individual (hope), being realistic and flexible (optimism), and bouncing back known as resilience (Luthans & Youssef, 2007; Luthans et al., 2007b). Simply, psychological capital is about who you are? And who you want to be? (Luthans & Youssef, 2004; Luthans et al., 2006).

Employee performance is the amount of the outputs after doing actions on inputs. It is the yield of the actions that happen in the organization (Buil et al., 2019). Employee performance is an interesting matter in today’s business and service environment. It is a function of understanding, abilities, proficiencies, and inspiration focused at formal job responsibilities (Nazir & Islam, 2017). It is the efficiency of every single employee behaviors that contributes to organizational objectives (Tabiu & Nura, 2013). The effective management of employee performance is crucial for the implementation of policy and the organization attaining its strategic objectives (Amos et al., 2004).

Job embeddedness is actually social involvement of a person within their organization (Holtom, 2016). Therefore, the employees who are embedded with their job, are usually not willing to leave the organization (Mitchell et al., 2001). Job embeddedness consists of two categories that are off the job and on the job embeddedness. According to researchers (Mitchell et al., 2001), on-the-job embeddedness refers to individuals who are engaged in their organizations, whereas off-the-Job embeddedness represents individuals who are submerged in their communities. Each category comprises of three dimensions which are links, sacrifice and fit (Allen, 2006; Ng & Feldman, 2009). Links states the informal or formal associations of individuals, projects, locations, groups and actions in their communities and organizations (Ng & Feldman, 2009). Fit explains that an employee is comfortable and compatible with the organization and environment. Sacrifice illustrates the loss of psychological benefit which an individual bears by leaving a job. The more an employee would lose, the more difficult would be to leave his/her organization (Dechawatanapaisal, 2018).

Psychological climate has been of interest to researchers and practitioners alike for decades (Ehrhart et al., 2013). The climate of an organization can be a powerful predictor of employee attitudes and behaviors, as well as firm-level outcomes (Sackmann, 2011). Generally, a healthy organizational environment is populated by individuals who feel welcomed and respected, and who are capable of developing their potential to successfully contribute to the aims of the organization as a whole. The relationship between psychological climate and different work outcomes has been widely studied. Psychological climate, therefore, is thought to exert a strong impact on individual motivation to achieve work outcomes (Munyaka et al., 2017).

Psychological Capital and Employee Performance

According to Gooty et al. (2009), psychological capital is about an individual’s vital psychological resource in the form of hope, optimism, resilience, and self-efficacy which provides energy to perform successfully (Sweetman et al., 2011). More specifically, being hopeful is interrelated with motivation need to work successfully, optimism is about an encouraging approach toward work, self-efficacy is having confidence on abilities and utilization of resources necessary to complete the assignment, and resilience is about one’s determination while facing challenges (Avey et al., 2010b).

Employees may resist in chasing a challenging task if their personal capacities are not enough to meet demands. Momentous theoretical and empirical studies suggested that employees having stronger levels of psychological resources are more probable to achieve their targets (Gooty et al., 2009; Hobfoll, 2001). Predominantly, this assessment emphasizes that workers have to develop strong psychological resources and positive energy, which lead to increased employee performance. Furthermore, these resources act as shield against day to day workplace challenges which affect employee performance negatively (Gooty et al., 2009; Hobfoll, 2001).

Psychological capital has appeared as an essential part of research on positive organizational behavior (Avey et al., 2010a). Psychological capital is also signified as motivational tendency of an individual which increases due to positive psychological paradigms such as optimism, efficacy, hope, and resilience (Luthans et al., 2007a). Earlier studies found that psychological capital has substantial role in expecting employee performance (Peterson et al., 2011). Certainly, organizations are recognizing qualities of employees as vital components for achieving noticeable position in competitive markets (Luthans & Youssef, 2004). The research on nurses supports that psychological capital is positively associated with nurse’s performance (Luthans & Jensen, 2005). Based on conservation of resource theory and the findings of empirical studies, it is predicted that:

  • H1: There is a significant relationship between psychological capital and employee performance.

Psychological Capital and Job Embeddedness

Optimism, resilience, hope, and self-efficacy are the personal resources of an individual and these resources fall inside the borders of conservation of resource theory (Avey et al., 2010a). Researchers have valued these resources and considered them important (Karatepe & Karadas, 2015). Employees high on psychological capital have satisfactory work relations and job conditions. We assume that employees who have deeper links in the organization, such as having pleasant relationships with their colleagues, are the employees who are high in psychological capital. Numerous studies argued that psychological capital increases the job embeddedness of employees (Sun et al., 2012). Based on the above discussion and supported theory we propose the following hypothesis:

  • H2: Psychological capital significantly influences job embeddedness.

Job Embeddedness and Employee Performance

Job Embeddedness is the links of an employee with others, the fit with the organization and community, and how much one would have to sacrifice to change jobs (Holtom & Inderrieden, 2006). It involves the factors causing an employee to remain at present job. Limited research has been conducted in Pakistan on job embeddedness (Shafique et al., 2011). Researchers found the impact of job embeddedness on work-related actions such as turnover, absenteeism, performance, and citizenship behaviors (Ng & Feldman, 2009). Additionally, job embeddedness has a robust influence on workplace activities such as employee performance, commitment and turnover intentions (Jiang et al., 2012b; Wheeler, 2012). Moreover, job embeddedness leads to outcomes such as social capital and job performance (Sekiguchi et al., 2008). Additional research has also shown that embeddedness increases employee performance (Lee et al., 2004).

According to Sekiguchi et al. (2008), elements of job embeddedness are expected to influence employee performance positively. Employee fit with the organization is a key element of job embeddedness, and would result in positive work outcomes. According to Lee et al. (2004), job embeddedness is considered as a strong explainer of employee performance. Furthermore, there is also an evidence concerning the link between job embeddedness and employee performances (Karatepe & Karadas, 2015; Wheeler et al., 2013; Lee et al., 2004). Nurses in a positive psychological state are more associated and embedded with their jobs, which improves their performance. Consistent with the observations of job embeddedness theory (Mitchell et al., 2001), job embeddedness is considered as a fundamental variable that predicts employee performance. Based on conservation of resource theory and the above research support it is predicted that:

  • H3: Job embeddedness significantly influences employee performance.

Mediating Effect of Job Embeddedness

As discussed above, the elements of psychological capital are vital personal resources that lie within boundaries of conservation of resource theory (Avey et al., 2010a). Job embeddedness is considered as an admired source for employees. When employees achieve rewards, and recognition, have satisfactory relationships with coworkers, then they will be more embedded with their jobs. Previous researches claimed that, job embeddedness is a stronger predictor of job outcomes such as employee retention, attendance, and employee performance (Holtom & Inderrieden, 2006).

Centered on conservation of resource theory, the studies claimed that employees high on psychological capital have satisfying work relations in organizations. Hence they have more embeddedness with their jobs, which in turn help them in improving performance (Luthans et al., 2008b). Consequently, such employees will be encouraged to handle problems efficiently and ensure their presence on their job (Mitchell et al., 2001). Prior researches have confirmed the significance of job embeddedness in nursing sector (Reitz et al., 2010; Chan et al., 2004; Morrell, 2005; Hayes et al., 2006; Holtom & O’Neill, 2004). The finding of another research have shown that job embeddedness is a predictor of performance (Sun et al., 2011). However, in circumstances where employees are more embedded on the job, it helps to reduce the impact of negative events and improve their performance (Burton et al., 2010). Based on the above research support and claims, we infer that nurses with higher psychological capital are more adaptive to their job, have more friends and have pleasant relations with their coworkers, and deeper contacts in the organization which will in turn improve their performance. So, we argue that psychological capital increases the job embeddedness of nurses, which in turn advances their performance. This stimulates the following hypothesis:

  • H4: Job embeddedness mediates the link between psychological capital and employee performance.

The Moderating Effect of Psychological Climate

According to Luthans and Avolio (2003), psychological capital and psychological climate are necessary to attain sustainable performance and growth. Researchers have observed psychological climate as perceived organizational support present in work setting (Munyaka et al., 2017). According to some theoretical models, values within an organization influence the human resource systems types which impact the psychological climate. Psychological climate ultimately results in employee attitudes, behavior and individual performance (Ogilvie et al., 2017). When employees observe a high level of interactive and supportive atmosphere, they are more encouraged and dedicated to work. Empirical evidence has shown a significant relationship between psychological climate and job embeddedness (Gentry et al., 2007). Based on the above discussion following hypothesis is proposed:

  • H5: Psychological climate considerably moderates the link between psychological capital and job embeddedness.

Research Framework and Model

Theoretical framework was proposed based on the cited literature discussed above. The intended theoretical framework was in line with the research questions given at the overhead of the report. In this study, a link is developed between psychological capital (independent variable) and employee performance (dependent variable) (Abbas & Raja, 2015); with the mediating effect of job embeddedness (Sekiguchi et al., 2008; Luthans et al., 2008b) and psychological climate served as a moderator (Gentry et al., 2007).

Conservation of resource theory (Hobfoll, 1988) and field theory (Lewin, 1951) underpin the research model. The prime concept of conservation of resource theory is that individuals are encouraged to retain their existing resources and attain new resources. If healthcare professionals are excessively and chronically stressed, as see during the Covid-19 pandemic, they may become disappointed, disgruntled, harassed, and feel bullied on the job (Mujtaba & Senathip, 2020); consequently, relevant management, training and success strategies are need to conserve this important human resources capital in each hospital (Mujtaba et al., 2020). The second principle of the conservation view is resource investment. According to Hobfoll (2001), individuals usually invest resources to increase resources, safeguard them to avoid resource loss and try to recover from its loss. The theoretical basis for understanding the relation between nurses and their environment can be found in psychologist Kurt Lewin’s field theory. According to this theory, the field in which a person’s behavior takes place is a set of relations and forces that can either strengthen or change their behavior (Lewin, 1947).

Methodology

This study is quantitative to test the hypotheses and the connection between independent and dependent variables with the help of numeric results. In current research a deductive approach will be used to address the proposed hypotheses. We are developing hypotheses based on existing theory and it is linked more to positivism (Saunders et al., 2012). In this study, survey research design is adopted to analyze the variables’ relationships, because survey method is one of the most prevalent and best ways for directing research (Lefever et al., 2007). Apart from this, it is a common strategy used in business research. Additionally, this method is easy to know by the participants of research. Survey research designs generally emphasizes on people, their beliefs, attitudes, views, behavior and motivations (Bedford & Speklé, 2018). To determine the relationship between study variables, various statistical tools and techniques are applied on collected data like correlation and regression.

The target population for conducting this research are the nurses of public sector hospitals of Rawalpindi and Islamabad. The population included both genders from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. Total population of this study is approximately 2500 public hospital nurses of Rawalpindi and Islamabad, including 900 in Pakistan institute of medical sciences (PIMS), 900 in Holy Family hospital, 500 in Poly Clinic hospital, and 200 in Benazir Bhutto hospital.

The questionnaire is used to get data from public hospital nurses and it comprises of two sections. First section shows the respondents’ demographics, i.e. age, gender and marital status and job tenure. Second section comprises of the different questions relevant to variables of the study, such as psychological capital, job embeddedness, psychological climate and employee performance.

The Proposed Research Model

Psychological capital (PC) questionnaire used in this study was adapted from Luthans et al. (2007a) with a 9 item scale, e.g. “I feel confident analyzing a long-term problem to find a solution.”, “There are lots of ways around any problem”, “I usually manage difficulties one way or another at work”, “I always look on the bright side of things regarding my job.”

Job embeddedness (JE) scale used in this research with 7 items was adapted from Mitchell et al. (2001), e.g. “I really love the place where I live”, “My coworkers are similar to me”, “People respect me a lot in my community”.

Employee performance (EP) questionnaire is measured with the scale of 5 items developed by Williams and Anderson (1991), e.g. “Complete obligatory aspects of the job.”, “Perform tasks that are expected.”

Psychological climate (PCL) questionnaire used in this study with a 7 item scale was adapted from Koys and DeCotiis (1991), e.g. “I organize my work as I see best”, “I set the performance standards for my job.”

The data was verified and checked for its consistency and accuracy before analysis. The present data of the study was coded and then entered into SPSS 21 and SMART PLS. The analysis of date is carried out through descriptive statistics, reliability and validity, correlation, regression, mediation, and moderation analysis (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1
figure 1

Theoretical framework

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A total of 350 respondents took part in this research from four public hospitals. The analysis shows that 41 (11.6%) were male, while 311 (88.4%) were female. Based on the age, 107 (30.4%) were age “18–25”, 113 (32.1%) were between “26–30,” 70 (19.9%) were between “31–35,” 40 (11.4%) were between “36–40,” and 22 (6.3%) were “40–60”. The data also indicate the distribution of participants by their job tenure, the finding shows that, 53 (15.1%) have a job tenure of 1–5 year, 96 (27.3%) have a job tenure of 6–10 years, 105 nurses (29.8%) have a job tenure of 11–15 years, 58 (16.5%) have a job tenure of 16–20 years, and 40 nurses (11.4%) have a job tenure of 21–25 years. On the basis of their marital status, out of the 350 respondents, 163 nurses (46.3%) are married and 189 nurses (53.7%) are unmarried.

Analysis and Results

Reliability analysis is a process in which the consistency of an instrument is analyzed. The test used to measure the reliability is Cronbach’s alpha. According to Sekaran (2009) and Goh et al. (2016), to accept the reliability, the value of α should be greater than 0.7.

In this study, 28 items were used, and the tests were applied on these items. Psychological capital (PC) was measured by 9 items resulted in 0.951 Cronbach’s alpha value which is greater than 0.7; hence reliability of PC shows very high reliability. Job embeddedness (JE) was measured by 7 items resulted in 0.942 Cronbach’s alpha value which is greater than 0.7; hence reliability of JE show very high reliability. Employee performance (EP) was measured by 5 items resulted in 0.932 Cronbach’s alpha value which is greater than 0.7; hence reliability of EP shows very high reliability. Psychological climate (PCL) was measured by 7 items resulted in 0.944 Cronbach’s alpha value which is greater than 0.7; hence reliability of PCL shows very high reliability. All the data show that the constructs’ items were reliable.

Descriptive statistics is primarily used to test the normality of data. According to the descriptive scale, mean of psychological capital is 3.399, job-embeddedness is 3.222, psychological climate is 3.098, and employee performance is 3.201. In normality analysis, Skewness and kurtosis statistics were used to identify normal distribution of data. It is a statistical process used to analyze whether data fits into the standardize normal distribution curve or not. In SPSS normality test was used to know whether data was normally distributed or not. After performing normality test it was found that Skewness and kurtosis outcomes lie in the acceptable range (i.e. Skewness: −1 to + 1 and Kurtosis −3 to + 3).

Correlation Analysis

Correlation analysis was used to measure relationship among the variables. The range of correlation is from −1 to + 1. Correlation “1” shows perfect correlation and “0” shows no correlation. The sign of correlation shows the direction of relationship among variables. Positive sign depicts direct correlation while negative sign shows opposite or indirect relationship among the variables. The correlation coefficient between psychological capital and job-embeddedness is 0.700 and indicates a strong correlation. The correlation coefficient between job-embeddedness and employee performance is 0.775, indicating a strong correlation. The correlation coefficient between psychological capital and employee performance is 0.638, indicating a substantial correlation. The correlation coefficient between job- embeddedness and psychological climate is 0.723 and it means that they are strongly correlated. The value “r” between employee performance and psychological climate is 0.541 and it means that there is substantial relationship between them. According to the results, values of all variables were significant as their p-values were less than 0.01.

Regression Analysis

In present study regression analysis was done to find out the degree of the impact of one variable on another variable (Table 1).

Table 1 Relationship between psychological capital, job embeddedness and employee performance
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The results of these three hypotheses in shape of “p” values are less than 0.05 and “t” value for these relationships is more than 1.96. So, the relationship between PC and EP is significant. “β” of this relationship is 0.373 which shows that by changing 1 unit in PC there would be 37.3% change in EP. The relationship between PC and JE is significant. “β” of this relationship is 0.361 which shows that 1 unit change in PC will bring 36.1% effect on JE. The relationship between JE and EP is significant. “β” of this relationship is 0.573 which shows that JE has 57.3% effect on EP and clarifies that 1 unit change in JE would affect EP by 57.3%. It is concluded that hypotheses “H1”, “H2” and “H3” are accepted.

Mediation Analysis

In the hypothesis 4, job embeddedness mediates the link between psychological capital and employee performance. In this relationship PC is independent variable, EP is dependent variable and JE is a mediating variable.

Indirect effects show that relationship between PC and EP is mediated by JE that is significant at 95% level of significance. Indirect effect of psychological capital and employee performance by job embeddedness was significant at 95% level of significance and the value of indirect effect = 0.207. This shows that 1 unit change in psychological capital brings 20.7% change in employee performance through job embeddedness. This result demonstrates that there is partial mediation of job embeddedness in the relationship between psychological capital and employee performance (Table 2).

Table 2 Results for mediation analysis
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Moderation Analysis

To assess the moderating role of psychological climate the mean centered averages of the predictor/independent variable were multiplied with the mean centered averages of the moderator and new interactions were created (Henseler & Fassott, 2010). Subsequently, the effect of these interactions was also incorporated to the model to assess the effect of these moderating interactions in the relationship between the independent variable “psychological capital” and the mediating variable “job embeddedness.” The moderating effect has been examined using product indicator approach. As presented in Table 3 the value of coefficient is 0.098 and significant for the moderating effect. So, hypothesis “H5” is accepted.

Table 3 Results of moderation analysis
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Discussion

The present research model was designed to examine the direct impact of psychological capital on employee performance among nurses. The aim was also to study how psychological capital influences employee performance in the presence of job embeddedness as a mediator. Apart from this, the study was inclined to know the moderating role of psychological climate in relation to psychological capital and job embeddedness. To attain these aims, we tested a structural model with cross-sectional data that was collected from public hospital nurses working in four hospitals: Pakistan institute of medical sciences, Holy Family hospital, Poly Clinic hospital, and Benazir Bhutto hospital) of Rawalpindi and Islamabad.

The association between psychological capital and employee performance was found to be significant (β = 0.373, t = 4.573, p < 0.05). Hence, hypothesis-H1 proved to be justifiable and supported. The findings revealed that psychological capital has a significant positive relationship with employee performance (Alessandri et al., 2018). Psychological resources of an individual are represented by their psychological capital, and individuals who are high in psychological capital can revive and move forward when faced with work difficulties. When a nurse’s psychological capital is raised, one is more likely to perform well. When an employee feels a main obstacle he or she can rebound from that failure and recognize that obstacle as a developing lesson. Likewise, high levels of psychological capital can signify an employee’s positive work related performance.

The relationship between psychological capital and job embeddedness was found to be significant (β = 0.361, t = 20.833, p < 0.05). Thus, hypothesis-H2 was accepted. According to this study it has been verified that employees with higher psychological capital face a higher level of job embeddedness. According to the earlier studies organizational factors such as satisfaction with the organization, wellbeing and salary provided by the organization has an influence on job embeddedness, but this study uses the individual psychological state as the predictive variable to explore the relation between individual psychological resources and job embeddedness. The results of the present study are in alignment with prior research (Fang & Lu, 2016). According to the present findings, it is concluded that enhancing the individual nurse psychological state will influence their embeddedness with their job.

The results of association between job embeddedness and employee performance was found to be statistically significant (β = 0.573, t = 6.848, p < 0.05). Therefore, hypothesis-H3 was accepted. Findings indicate the suitability of studying retention and performance as a related job behavior and this linkage can be understand by viewing job embeddedness. The results were in accordance with the previous studies (Afsar et al., 2018). The association between job embeddedness and performance is significantly positive because when a nurse is highly linked and fits within a hospital and facilitate with a favorable advice or assistance in the job, his or her motivation to perform well will also be high.

The results of this present study met our expectation that job embeddedness plays an intervening role between psychological capital and employee performance. The results of the mediation analysis suggest that job embeddedness partially mediates the relationship between psychological capital and employee performance (β = 0.207, t = 6.773, p < 0.05). Luthans et al. (2007a) also gave the same explanations regarding these variables. In previous studies, it is also justified that employees having high psychological capital are more embedded with their jobs as they are performing well (Sun et al., 2012). The present study results have also shown that individuals (nurses) high in psychological capital are more embedded with their jobs which in turn enhance their performance. So, hypothesis-H4 was accepted. The results were consistent with the earlier studies.

The present study hypothesized that psychological climate would moderate the link between psychological capital and job embeddedness which ultimately enhances employee performance. The results of the moderation analysis (β = 0.098, t = 6.187, p < 0.05) support the hypothesized interaction. Previous studies also reported the same findings. Earlier studies claimed that high psychological climate would result in job embeddedness of employees (Gentry et al., 2007). Hence, hypothesis-H5 was accepted. The results of present study directed that supportive environment would result in job embeddedness of nurses, and dedication toward work also increases.

Future Directions

This study lays out several limitations that should be noted for the future research. Firstly, the targeted sample was only collected from the specific population that is 4 public sector hospitals of Pakistan situated in Rawalpindi and Islamabad. This can be considered as a limitation and future research should consider collecting data from other regions as study area. Secondly, the cross-sectional nature of the study would hinder the chances to extend the generalizability of findings. The reason behind this limitation is caused due to time and recourses constraints. To overcome this limitation, a longitudinal study could be used to collect data in a more careful and organized manner, so that detailed and extensive causal relationships among study variables can be achieved. Thirdly, as per this study, all the data were collected from nurses. Future study should emphasize to collect the data from other organizational employees as well.

Finally, future researchers should consider the boundary conditions regarding the relationship between psychological capital and employee performance. This study has investigated the role of psychological climate as a moderating variable. The relationship between psychological capital and performance was stronger when employees perceive high psychological climate in service organizations (Walumbwa et al., 2010). Future researchers should consider other possible mediating and moderating variables between psychological capital and employee performance.

Conclusion

This research study was conducted to investigate the relationship between psychological capital prompting employee performance through job embeddedness by intensifying psychological climate as moderator in public hospital nurses. The unit of analysis was the nurses from four public hospitals. Convenience sampling was used and data were collected through self-administered closed ended questionnaire. Drawing on the conservation of resource theory and field theory this study examined the extent to which psychological climate impacts the relationship of job embeddedness and psychological capital which ultimately influences the performance of public hospital nurses. The hypothesized research model confirms that statistically there is a significant relationship between psychological capital, job embeddedness, employee performance, and psychological climate. This study provides new insights to the mechanism by offering practical and theoretical perception about psychological capital and employee performance in the healthcare sector which can be especially helpful to all medical administrators and supporting professionals during the Covid-19 pandemic.