The Construction of a Comprehensive Index of Executives' Positive Psychological Characteristics and Its Impact on Enterprise Human Capital Accumulation: A Principal Component Analysis Approach
Year: 2026
Type: article
Abstract: This study constructs a comprehensive index of the positive psychological characteristics of Top Management Teams (TMT) and examines its empirical influence on enterprise human capital accumulation, integrating Positive Psychology and Upper Echelons Theory. Using balanced panel data from 1,509 A-share listed companies on the Shanghai and Shenzhen stock exchanges from 2015 to 2022 (12,072 observations), this research addresses a critical gap in collective leadership literature. Unlike previous studies that rely on isolated indicators, this study uses Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to reduce multicollinearity among seven core attributes: TMT average age, gender composition, educational level, tenure, shareholder affiliation, positive emotional tone, and corporate charitable giving. The PCA results effectively extracted three core dimensions with eigenvalues greater than 1, accounting for 58.1% of the cumulative variance: (1) Demographic and Governance Structure Characteristics, (2) Executive Human Capital Accumulation Path, and (3) Positive Psychological Behavioral Characteristics. The mathematical synthesis of these dimensions generated a robust weighted composite index ($X\_index$). Empirical evidence confirms that this composite index exerts a statistically significant positive impact on corporate human capital accumulation, measured directly by the structural stock of technical talent, specifically the proportion of R&D personnel to total employees ($Rdemp$). The findings show that a TMT's positive psychological level is a quantifiable organizational capability that broadens strategic horizons, shapes an inclusive corporate culture, and drives long-term talent cultivation. This research provides a robust, multi-dimensional measurement tool and a systematic methodological reference for expanding quantitative studies on executive psychological traits and macro-level corporate resource allocation.
Author: Qiao, Wu
Institution: Payap University
Language: English
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: diamond
OpenAlex ID: W7219384828