The Role of Psychological Capital in Shaping Challenge Preference During Political Insecurity: Evidence from the D.R. Congo

The Role of Psychological Capital in Shaping Challenge Preference During Political Insecurity: Evidence from the D.R. Congo | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article The Role of Psychological Capital in Shaping Challenge Preference During Political Insecurity: Evidence from the D.R. Congo ferdinand This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886265/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract This study examines whether Psychological Capital (PsyCap)—a composite of hope, self-efficacy, optimism, and resilience—mediates the effect of perceived insecurity on individuals’ willingness to engage in challenging tasks. Using a randomized lab experiment in Goma, Democratic Republic of Congo, we show that priming insecurity significantly reduces the likelihood of choosing a demanding but rewarding task. Crucially, mediation analysis reveals that over 95\% of this effect operates through diminished PsyCap, indicating that insecurity primarily erodes psychological resources rather than directly altering preferences. We further find that insecurity impairs task performance (increasing completion time), again mediated by PsyCap. These results hold after controlling for mood, time preferences, and risk aversion. Our findings highlight insecurity as a psychological constraint on agency, reducing both motivation and effort capacity. They also suggest that interventions bolstering PsyCap could mitigate the hidden economic costs of insecurity, particularly in conflict-affected settings. Development Economics Behavioral Economics Insecurity Psychological Capital Challenge Risk Full Text Additional Declarations The authors declare no competing interests. This study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Université Libre des Pays des Grands Lacs (ULPGL-Goma). All participants provided informed consent prior to participation. All procedures followed internationally recognized ethical principles for research with human subjects. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-6886265","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":470787959,"identity":"7aed6e45-36c1-429c-ad74-1c94f3ebd8f6","order_by":0,"name":"ferdinand","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA/klEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBAC9gYGBokEEOtGAhsDQwWQwczcgFcLzwGYljsPgFrOgLQwEqEFzLoP1MLYBmIR0sLe+/DGwx12eXy3c8we/pxXG83fDtTyo2Ibbi08x40tEs8kF0vezjE35t12PHfGYcYGxp4zt3FqsZdIY5NIbGNO3AC0RZpx27HcBqAWZsY23Fp45J+BtNQnbriRYyb5c86x3PkEtUiwgbQcBmuR4G2oyd1AUAtPGrNFYtvxxJk30sqNeY4dyN0I1HIQn1942I8x3vzZVp3YdyN528MfNXW5884fPvjgRwVuLejgMJg8QLR6IKgjRfEoGAWjYBSMEAAAgyhfYM/MQDMAAAAASUVORK5CYII=","orcid":"https://orcid.org/0009-0006-2833-0089","institution":"Université Libre des pays des grands","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"","middleName":"","lastName":"ferdinand","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2025-06-13 08:24:39","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":{"humanSubjects":true,"vertebrateSubjects":false,"conflictsOfInterestStatement":false,"humanSubjectEthicalGuidelines":true,"humanSubjectConsent":true,"humanSubjectClinicalTrial":true,"humanSubjectCaseReport":false,"vertebrateSubjectEthicalGuidelines":false},"doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886265/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-6886265/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":84752255,"identity":"bc38668c-ac70-4c99-88e9-5b8363219582","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2025-06-17 03:22:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":522559,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"insecurity.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-6886265/v1_covered_2515e7f6-e267-4f72-a7e6-a19da6e83ddc.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"\u003cp\u003eThe authors declare no competing interests.\u003c/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThis study was reviewed and approved by the Institutional Ethics Committee of Université Libre des Pays des Grands Lacs (ULPGL-Goma). 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