Abstract
Enormous research efforts have been done to investigate the various benefits of positive psychology to the general public's well-being, happiness, and the flourishing of social development. Positive psychological capital (PsyCap) embodies four salient aspects of mental strength: self-efficacy, optimism, hope, and resilience. Although the critical role of PsyCap in personnel growth has been extensively acknowledged, little is known about what fosters or inhibits the development of PsyCap and the cognitive mechanisms that intervenes in the processes. Curiosity and imagination are the cognitive attributes that reflect individuals' attitudes toward uncertainty and the intellectual flexibility of idea generation. Using a longitudinal sample of 519 respondents from various employment, social and educational backgrounds, we found that individuals' curiosity positively impacts psychological capital. More interestingly, our findings suggest that the three dimensions of individuals' imagination as the moderators can either strengthen or weaken the relationship between their curiosity and psychological capital.