scholarly journals The Interaction Effect of Crisis Communication and Social Support on The Emotional Exhaustion of University Employees during the COVID-19 Crisis

2020 ◽  
pp. 232948842095318
Author(s):  
Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol ◽  
Tipnuch Phungsoonthorn

Although formal communication from an organization’s management is crucial during a crisis to reduce the uncertainties of employee, less is known about the moderating role of social support that could make employees rely less on formal communication to reduce those uncertainties. Grounded in uncertainty reduction theory, this research examines the role of crisis communication on the perceived uncertainties and emotional exhaustion of employees who work at private international universities that have been affected by the COVID-19 crisis. Furthermore, this research explores the moderating effect of social support in terms of supervisor support and coworker support on the association between crisis communication and perceived uncertainties. Questionnaire data were collected from 300 employees from two private international universities in Thailand. Partial least squares structural equation modeling was used for data analysis. The analysis shows that perceived uncertainties mediate the negative association between crisis communication and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, the moderating effect analysis shows that the association between crisis communication and perceived uncertainties is significantly moderated by coworker support, but not by supervisor support. Simple slope analysis also clearly shows that the negative association between crisis communication and perceived uncertainties only presents in employees with a low level of coworker support. For employees with high coworker support, crisis communication does not associate negatively with perceived uncertainties. This research implies that the informal communication that employees obtain from social support could play a compensatory role for their need to rely on formal communication to reduce uncertainties during the crisis.

Author(s):  
Peerayuth Charoensukmongkol ◽  
Murad Moqbel ◽  
Sandra Gutierrez-Wirsching

Purpose This study investigates the role of coworker and supervisor support on three aspects of burnout (emotional exhaustion, depersonalization, perceived lack of personal accomplishment) and job satisfaction. The authors argue that different sources of social support at work can influence these three aspects of burnout differently. Design/methodology/approach Questionnaires were delivered to supervisors of each campus department at two state universities in South Texas asking them to encourage their employees to complete the survey. The sample consisted of 174 personnel. Findings The results show that coworker support was negatively associated with emotional exhaustion and depersonalization but not with perceived lack of personal accomplishment while supervisor support was negatively associated with all aspects of burnout. The analysis also confirmed the direct and indirect effects of coworker and supervisor support on job satisfaction. Practical implications Due to the detrimental consequences of burnout to employee satisfaction, organizations need to make sure that employees receive sufficient support from their coworkers and supervisors to avoid this burnout problem. Originality/value Even though the role of social support on job burnout has been previously investigated, existing studies tended to combine three dimensions of burnout into a single measure. Using an aggregated measure of burnout as an outcome variable can limit our understanding about the role that social support plays on each individual dimension of burnout. By employing burnout as a multidimensional construct, the present study can determine whether coworker support and supervisor support can have a different impact on each of the three dimensions of burnout.


2019 ◽  
Vol 28 (2) ◽  
pp. 417-433
Author(s):  
Benny Hutahayan

Purpose Applying social exchange and job demands resources theories, this study aims to proposes a research model in which work engagement (WE) mediates the influence of work social support on job satisfaction (JS), in-role performance (IRP) and creative performance (CP). Design/methodology/approach Data were collected from cabin attendants via three surveys two weeks apart and their pursers. The aforesaid relationships were assessed through structural equation modeling. Findings In general, there is support for the preponderance of hypotheses. Specifically, WE completely mediate the impact of coworker support on JS and IRP, whereas the impact of supervisor support on CP is completely mediated by WE. WE partly mediate the effect of coworker support on CP. Further, the effect of supervisor support on JS and IRP is partly mediated by WE. Originality/value The study extends and contributes to the current service research by assessing the impact of WE simultaneously on three performance outcomes. And it adds to current knowledge by investigating the mediating mechanism linking work social support to the attitudinal and behavioral outcomes. It also controls the threat of common method variance with at least two procedural remedies, which have been rarely used in the current service research.


Author(s):  
Antonia-Sophie Döbler ◽  
André Emmermacher ◽  
Stefanie Richter-Killenberg ◽  
Joshua Nowak ◽  
Jürgen Wegge

The present study provides evidence for the important role of job crafting and self-undermining behaviors at work, two new concepts that were recently integrated into the well-known job demands-resources (JD-R) theory (Bakker and Demerouti, 2017). We investigate how these behaviors are associated with work engagement, emotional exhaustion, and work ability as a long-term indicator of employee’s well-being. Furthermore, we examine the moderating role of personal resources in the stress-strain process by comparing groups of employees representing the five types of job satisfaction defined by Bruggemann (1974). Data was collected in a cross-sectional study within a German DAX company’s manufacturing plant from 1145 blue- and white-collar workers. Results of structural equation modeling provided, as expected, support for an indirect effect of job demands and job resources on emotional exhaustion and work engagement through job crafting and self-undermining. Work ability, on the other hand, was mainly affected by emotional exhaustion, but not by work engagement. Most important, we found significant differences between path coefficients across the five types of job satisfaction indicating that these types represent important constellations of personal resources and job demands that should be considered both for analyzing stress at work and for offering tailored stress interventions in organizations.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Einwiller ◽  
Christopher Ruppel ◽  
Julia Stranzl

PurposeBased on social exchange theory, the study examines the influence of informational and relational internal communication on cognitive and affective responses and job engagement during organizational crises caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.Design/methodology/approachData were collected by means of an online survey among people working in organizations with a minimum of 10 employees (N = 1,033) and analyzed using structural equation modeling.FindingsResults show that informational and relational communication as organizational resources have a significant but distinct influence on how employees support their employer during the crisis. While informational communication influences employees' acceptance of managerial decisions, relational communication exerts most influence on affective commitment, which is the strongest driver of job engagement.Research limitations/implicationsThe cross-sectional design, specific crisis situation and geographic location are limitations of the study.Practical implicationsDelivering relevant information to employees quickly and reliably is important. Yet, relationship-oriented communication that demonstrates appreciation and allows for participation has even stronger effects on job engagement, which is essential to mastering challenges arising from a crisis.Social implicationsDuring the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations demanded much from their employees. In exchange, organizations should provide the resources information, status and love (Foa and Foa, 1980) by means of internal crisis communication.Originality/valueThe study demonstrates the role of different types of internal communication during organizational crises used to convey organizational resources, and it highlights the mediating role of acceptance and commitment to enhance employees' engagement at work.


2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yikang Chen ◽  
Yifan Liu ◽  
Yuxuan Zhang ◽  
Zheng Li ◽  
Tianshu Zhou

Objective: The present study focused on examining fear of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is correlated with depression and explored the potential role of resilience and social support on the association between fear of the COVID-19 (FoC) and depression among Chinese outbound students studying online in China amid the COVID-19 pandemic period.Methods: A total of 476 Chinese outbound students from different universities worldwide, currently studying via online mode in China, completed an online survey including measures on FoC, resilience, social support, and depression.Results: (1) Fear of the COVID-19 was positively correlated with depression and negatively correlated with resilience and social support. Both resilience and social support were negatively correlated with depression. Social support showed a positive correlation with resilience. (2) The effect of FoC on depression mainly occurred through two paths: the mediating effect of resilience and the moderating effect of resilience. However, the moderating effect of social support on the association between FoC and depression was not sustained in this study.Conclusion: This study indicated the mediating and moderating effects of resilience on the association between FoC and depression among Chinese outbound students studying online in China during the COVID-19 pandemic period. The current findings confirmed that resilience has significant implications in preventing negative mental states under the COVID-19 context among this particular group.


2018 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 137-152 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sajeet Pradhan ◽  
Lalatendu Kesari Jena

Purpose Based on the conservation of resources theory, the purpose of this paper is to investigate the linkage between abusive supervision (a workplace stressor) and subordinate’s intention to quit by focusing on the mediating role of emotional exhaustion. The study also explores the conditional mediation model by testing the moderational role of perceived coworker support on the mediated abusive supervision-intention to quit relationship via emotional exhaustion. Design/methodology/approach To test the proposed hypotheses, the study draws data from 382 healthcare employees working in several hospitals and clinics in the eastern and north-eastern states of India. The authors collected data on the predictor and criterion variables at two time points with a separation of three to four weeks in a reversed order to counter priming effect. Findings The findings of the study reported that emotional exhaustion partially mediated the abusive supervision-intention to quit relationship. The result also supported the assertion that perceived coworker support will moderate the relationship between abusive supervision and subordinate’s intention to quit. The authors also found support to the moderated mediation hypothesis, that suggest perceived coworker support will reduce the mediating effect of abusive supervision-intention to quit relationship via emotional exhaustion. Originality/value This study is among few empirical investigations to investigate and report the interactional effect of perceived coworker support (a buffer) on the indirect relationship between abusive supervision and subordinate’s intention to quit via emotional exhaustion.


Information ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 33 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanxia Cheng ◽  
Saurabh Sharma ◽  
Prashant Sharma ◽  
KMMCB Kulathunga

The aim of this study was to empirically examine the extended unified theory of acceptance and use of technology 2 (UTAUT2) model by adding “personalization” as one of the antecedents, as well as a moderator to determine the key factors for the continuous use intention of mobile news applications (apps). For this study, an online and manual sample survey of 309 respondents, who had used the news app earlier, was collected and analyzed, using quantitative methods such as explanatory and confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and Hayes process for finding moderating effects among variables. The findings of the direct effect demonstrated that performance expectancy (PE) has the most influential effect on continuous use intention, followed by habit (HT), hedonic motivation (HM), and facilitating conditions (FC). Furthermore, the outcome of tests for the moderating effect of personalization between UTAUT2 constructs and continuous use intention (CUI) showed that personalization has a significant moderating effect on performance expectancy and habit. Therefore, this research establishes the key role of PE, HT, HM, and FC as main factors that trigger the users’ continuous use intention of news apps and provides an integrated framework to assess the moderating effect of personalization on technology acceptance. The findings of the research expand the existing literature on news applications and provide foundation for future research studies in the area of mobile news apps.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document