Some Voices from Italian Youth on Well-Being: How to Cope with Job Insecurity?

Emotional Exhaustion and Engagement in Higher Education Students during a Crisis, Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Experience in Italian Universities

Italian university students face an uncertain future characterised by a competitive neoliberal academic environment with high demands and a weak labour market that often cannot hire those who are best qualified. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated students’ uncertainty and negatively affected their well-being. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of academic life during the pandemic and to examine the relationship between study load, reduced academic performance, internet addiction, academic self-efficacy, and engagement and emotional exhaustion. A sample of university students (N = 10,298) from 11 Italian universities completed a self-report questionnaire about their academic and personal lives between May and June 2021. We performed two multiple linear regressions and one ANOVA to highlight gender differences. Results indicate that female students reported lower levels of engagement and academic self-efficacy, and higher levels of exhaustion and study demands compared to male students, while older students generally appear to exhibit higher levels of well-being. Study load, reduced academic performance, and internet addiction showed a negative association with engagement, particularly the first two, and a positive association with exhaustion, while self-efficacy was positively associated with engagement and negatively associated with exhaustion. The results suggest the need to introduce additional forms of support, such as psychological support, internet addiction awareness courses or counseling services.

An empirical study of entrepreneurial leadership and fear of COVID-19 impact on psychological wellbeing: A mediating effect of job insecurity

The empirical study proposes a model for investigating the effect of entrepreneurial leadership on job insecurity and employee psychological wellbeing during COVID-19 based on the combined theoretical grounds of The Conservation of Resources Theory and Social Learning. To explore the job insecurity relationship with psychological wellbeing, and measure the impact of Fear of COVID-19, an empirical study was conducted on a sample of 408 employees in Croatia. The data of the cross-sectional study was collected in November and December 2020. A strong influence of job insecurity on the psychological wellbeing of employees has been identified. Furthermore, fear of COVID-19 was found to have adverse psychological effects on wellbeing. The theorized positive impact of entrepreneurial leadership on job insecurity was not supported by the evidence. The strong point of our contribution lies in the finding that the entrepreneurial leadership style alone does not buffer against job insecurity, thus pointing that the more comprehensive inquiry into other organizational factors, such as coping, learning abilities, developmental opportunities, personal disposition, and pressure bearing. The research is the first step toward enhancing our understanding of the entrepreneurial dimension of transactional psychology. The observations we recorded have implications for research into the study of the mental processes and their impact on organizational proactive behavior.

Might insecurity and use of ICT enhance internet addiction and exhaust people? A study in two European countries during emergency remote working

Facing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we have witnessed a strong recourse to generalised lockdowns and to the deployment of remote working. These emergency measures have also thrown employers and employees into uncertainty regarding the present and future existence of their job. The present study aimed to examine the role of job insecurity and job demands in non-working hours through technologies on emotional exhaustion mediated by Internet addiction. A total of 999 remote workers, 501 of whom live in France and 498 in Italy, completed a self-report questionnaire during the first lockdown. Results suggest that both job insecurity and the requests to use technology for work purposes during non-work time exacerbate emotional exhaustion through the mediation of Internet Addiction. Limitations, future perspectives, and implications for management are discussed.

Impact of Entrepreneurial Leadership and Bricolage on Job Security and Sustainable Economic Performance: An Empirical Study of Croatian Companies during COVID-19 Pandemic

In the wake of the current socio-economic crisis, discovering an effective strategy for managing uncertainty and successful reallocation of resources became key to ensuring sustainable economic performance. More recent evidence pointed to the entrepreneurial leadership style as an effective means for engaging employees in a more proactive pursuit of organizational goals. This article introduces a novel approach to sustainable economic performance during the COVID-19 pandemic considering entrepreneurial leadership, entrepreneurial bricolage, and job insecurity. The empirical study was performed on a sample of 410 employees from Croatian organizations working in different industries during the COVID outbreak. The study results reveal that entrepreneurial leadership positively impacts sustainable economic performance but does not lead to decreased job insecurity. Expectedly, job insecurity was found to have a negative effect on sustainable economic performance. The results confirmed a positive influence of entrepreneurial bricolage on sustainable economic performance, which is in line with existing literature. However, the moderating effect of entrepreneurial bricolage on the relationship between entrepreneurial leadership and job insecurity was not significant. The findings suggest that companies can sustain their performance or even thrive under entrepreneurial leadership. The study lays the groundwork for further investigation on how entrepreneurial leaders can influence followers’ creative self-efficacy to decrease job uncertainty and prevent fear-induced hindrances, such as organizational deviance and turnover intention in the context of the pandemic.