When fear about health hurts performance: COVID-19 and its impact on employee’s work

Lessons learned from behaviors of the employees in Iranian banks during the Covid-19 pandemic crisis: A phenomenological study

The aim of this research is to analyze the experiences of employees during the Covid-19 pandemic cri-sis and conceptualize the lessons learned to deal with similar crises in the future. To achieve this, a qualitative approach with a phenomenological strategy was conducted through semi-structured, in-depth interviews with 16 front-line employees of Bank Melli, the largest state bank in Iran. The study found that employee behavior plays a critical role in crisis management, with functional behaviors such as preventive measures, stress management, and sharing valid information being essential. Dysfunctional behaviors such as resistance to change and inconsistent behaviors were also identified. The prevention of infection and stress management were identified as key behaviors to cope with the crisis, while media literacy and acceptance of change were crucial for correct information analysis and crisis management. Overall, the study highlights the challenges faced by employees during the Covid-19 crisis and provides valuable lessons from a behavioral perspective for managers in the banking industry to manage disruptions caused by current and future pandemics. The study emphasizes the importance of learning from the lessons of the Covid-19 crisis to reduce negative effects on physical and mental health.

Determinants of improving the relationship between corporate culture and work performance: Illusion or reality of serial mediation of leadership and work engagement in a crisis period?

The disease COVID-19 has had an impact on the lives of all people in the world. It also had a great impact on the world economies themselves. There are several scientific publications on the impact of the COVID-19 disease on the work performance of employees, while researchers have focused on less traditional factors such as corporate culture, leadership, or work engagement as well. Corporate culture influences the shared values or behavior of employees at the workplace and creates an environment in which employees work. Through leadership, managers should be able to motivate their employees and thereby ensure their better work performance. It can be assumed that if employees are more engaged, their work performance will be higher. The main goal of the paper is to examine whether corporate culture has an impact on the work performance of employees through the mediators of leadership and work engagement. The data necessary for the goal set in this way were obtained through a questionnaire survey, which was attended by 489 respondents during the year 2022. After the data reliability analysis, by using serial mediation with two mediators, the influence of corporate culture on work performance was verified independently, but also through the mediators of leadership and work engagement. Based on the results, it can be claimed that individual factors have a significant impact on work performance, while the influence of corporate culture mediated by leadership and work engagement was also confirmed. The influence of corporate culture, mediated only by leadership, and the independent influence of corporate culture through work engagement on work performance were also confirmed.

The relational effects of perceived organizational support, fear of COVID-19, and work-related stress on the safety performance of healthcare workers

This paper assesses the relational effects of perceived organizational support (POS), fear of COVID-19 (FOC-19), and work-related stress (WRS) on the safety performance of healthcare staff. The sample for this research was extracted from the University College Hospital (UCH) in the Oyo State of Nigeria. The participants were midwives, doctors, auxiliary services staff, and nurses who functioned in a COVID-19 hospital ward, fever or respiratory ICU, Auxiliary services, or outpatient clinics. This investigation espoused a clinical cross-sectional survey involving self-reported surveys. Of the 150 questionnaires distributed, 147 were fit for scrutiny and analyzed with Statistical Packages for the Social Sciences (SPSS version 28). This paper established a relationship between POS and safety performance (SP). Besides, it showed a significant positive correlation between FOC-19 and SP. It further noted that work-related stress negatively relates to safety performance. Moreover, this study showed the significant joint strong influence of POC, FOC-19, and WRS on the safety performance of healthcare workers. Hence, healthcare institutions are encouraged to create adequate support for healthcare workers, particularly during a global health crisis. Government and healthcare institutions should also develop an awareness program on the danger and consequences of getting infected by the virus or infecting other significant others. This will increase the fear of COVID-19 and, consequently, health workers' safety performance. Besides, it is recommended that the management of healthcare institutions provides a proper work structure and schedule to help reduce workloads, consequently reducing WRS, as lowering it improves healthcare workers' safety performance.