Toward an Integrated Understanding of Employee Wellbeing: A Narrative Review of PsyCap, Work Engagement, Stress, and Intolerance of Uncertainty

Well-being of employees has become an increasingly important issue in workplaces today, marked by increasing stress levels, uncertainty, and psychological demands. Despite extensive research in the areas of Psychological Capital (PsyCap), work engagement, stress, intolerance of uncertainty, and employee well-being, the literature is somewhat scattered. Thus, the current narrative review attempts to provide a synthesis of the existing literature related to the relationships between PsyCap, work engagement, stress, intolerance of uncertainty, and employee well-being among professional workers. Narrative literature review was employed as the methodology in the paper and 21 peer-reviewed articles were analyzed from the year of 2010 to 2026 based on the keyword searches performed using Google Scholar. The selected articles provided information about direct and indirect links between the major variables as well as mediation and moderation effects on employee well-being. Consistently, a significant positive association between PsyCap and well-being was observed in most of the studies. People who were characterized by high levels of optimism, hope, self-efficacy, and resilience were more likely to experience greater psychological well-being, life satisfaction, work-life balance, and job satisfaction. Another important construct associated with well-being was work engagement. Work engagement positively contributes to employee well-being and acts as a mediator in PsyCap-well-being relationships. At the same time, stress served as a mediator between PsyCap and well-being. Employees with high PsyCap were less stressed, anxious, and depressed which translated into better well-being. On the contrary, intolerance of uncertainty adversely affected well-being by creating additional stress and psychological distress. Evidence related to the Indian sample showed that PsyCap and work engagement had a positive effect on well-being of employees. The review highlights the importance of strengthening positive psychological resources and addressing workplace stress and uncertainty to support employee wellbeing in contemporary work settings.