I ran across an article published in the Academy of Management Journal. The primary author is Fred Luthans who hails from The University of Nebraska-Lincoln. I stumbled across the article when I was doing some research for class. It has been a game-changer for me.
I looked into his body of work to find that he has written numerous articles on the notion of building psychological capital. He claims, and has research to back it up, that things like hope, self-efficacy (confidence), optimism and resilience can be built. I find this quite intriguing because this is directly inline with my research, yet, until now, I had no idea this guy even existed.
Reference
Luthans, F., Avey, J. B., & Patera, J. L. (2008). Experimental analysis of a web-based training intervention to develop positive psychological capital. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 7(2), 209–221.