Role conflict, job crafting, stress and resilience among nurses during COVID-19

Crises have the potential to heighten stress levels among frontline employees. In general, to cope with crisis-related stress, employees often improvise or job craft to meet the demands of the crisis. In addition to this, they need resources and directions to support their innovation by lowering role conflict. During the COVID-19 pandemic, nurses too were compelled to improvise as they struggled with multiple challenges related to the uncertainty associated with the virus and the assignment of atypical job functions. These concerns affected nurses' wellbeing and impacted their jobs. This two-phase sequential study began with interviews (n = 14), followed by a survey (n = 152) exploring nurses' perspectives regarding this noncausality crisis and the impact of organizational variables on their stress levels. While improvisation and job crafting were found to be important for adaptive resilience, the process involved in achieving resilience ended up increasing stress for nurses. Additionally, nurses faced role conflict, which contributed to greater levels of stress. To support nurses and enhance resilience, organizations should provide resources, role direction and training for effective job crafting and orientation.