Supporting interdependent telework employees: A moderated-mediation model linking daily COVID-19 task setbacks to...

Area of Science:

• Organizational Psychology
• Occupational Health Psychology
• Behavioral Economics

Background:

• The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated widespread adoption of full-time telework to mitigate virus transmission.
• Unforeseen daily disruptions during the pandemic created unique stressors for remote employees.
• Limited understanding exists on how telework employees manage work behaviors amidst these challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the impact of COVID-19 related task setbacks on telework employee emotional exhaustion and work withdrawal.
• To examine the mediating role of emotional exhaustion in the relationship between task setbacks and work withdrawal.
• To explore the moderating effects of task interdependence and telework task support.

Main Methods:

• A multilevel, two-stage moderated-mediation model was developed based on Conservation of Resources (COR) theory.
• Daily experience-sampling data were collected over 10 workdays from 120 employees.
• Data from 1,022 employee-days were analyzed to test the proposed hypotheses.

Main Results:

• Daily COVID-19 task setbacks were positively associated with end-of-day emotional exhaustion.
• End-of-day emotional exhaustion positively predicted next-day work withdrawal behaviors.
• The positive relationship between setbacks and exhaustion was stronger for employees with higher task interdependence.

Conclusions:

• Findings support the COR theory's predictions regarding resource loss and preservation in the context of telework.
• Organizations can mitigate work withdrawal by providing adequate telework task support.
• The study offers insights for managing remote workforces during crises and beyond.