Fear of Non-Employability and of Economic Crisis Increase Workplace Harassment through Lower Organizational Welfare Orientation

Do Digital Technologies Influence the Relationship between the COVID-19 Crisis and SMEs’ Resilience in Developing Countries?

The COVID-19 pandemic is not only a medical emergency but also a business emergency that has created the need for organizations to be resilient and versatile in managing the impact of the pandemic on their business operations. At this time, small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are the most vulnerable to the economic disaster caused by the recent crisis, because these companies do not have the necessary resources to absorb losses. This research reviewed the impact of digital technologies on SMEs’ resilience during the pandemic, focusing on companies in developing countries. Based on the 96 SMEs surveyed across six developing countries, the study shows that digital technology has helped SMEs to survive the pandemic, assisting SMEs in becoming more robust and ensuring their survival. This research fills a significant research gap in the literature, highlighting the inherent challenges of SMEs in developing countries and their digital transformation strategies. This study also offers practical recommendations for SMEs, tech developers, and policymakers to invest more effort in putting new procedures in place to ensure the efficacy of digital technology.

Does Social Support Matter in the Workplace? Social Support, Job Satisfaction, Bullying and Harassment in the Workplace during COVID-19

This study aims to examine social support at work amongst the employees of Icelandic municipalities and its relationship to job satisfaction, bullying and harassment. The study is based on an online survey conducted in 2021. A total of 4973 employees answered the questionnaire in part or in full after three reminders (57% response rate). The majority of the participants in the study were women (82%), but this gender ratio was representative of the population. The results show that social support gave an average score of 4.2 on a scale of 1–5; 87% of the participants were rather often or always satisfied with their job, 8% had experienced bullying at work, 2% had experienced sexual harassment and 3% had experienced gender-based harassment. Social support has a positive, moderately strong correlation with employee job satisfaction and a weak negative correlation with bullying at work. Based on the results, social support is an important factor related to the job satisfaction of employees and is a protective factor against bullying and sexual harassment at work. This finding demonstrates that managers and those responsible for employee well-being in the workplace should focus on social support at work, especially now that the psychosocial work environment is fragile because of COVID-19.

Economic Stress at Work: Its Impact over Absenteeism and Innovation

Economic stress has been recognized as a major threat to the well-being and performance of workers, especially during times of global economic crisis. An interesting and relatively unexplored research topic concerns the associations between economic stress and employee job outcomes such as innovative behaviors, indispensable for business survival. The aim of the present study was to investigate the relationship between economic stress, absenteeism and innovation. We considered both a direct and a mediation hypothesis and hypothesized that economic stress can have a negative influence on innovation directly and indirectly through increased absenteeism. A cross-sectional study was performed during 2018 and 2019 in an Italian food factory. A sample of 578 employees completed the Stress Questionnaire, the Janssen’s nine-item scale and a single-item regarding absenteeism. All relationships are supported by empirical data. As expected, the results indicated that economic stress is negatively related to innovation and positively related to absenteeism, which, in turn, plays a mediating role in the relationship between economic stress and innovative behavior. Herewith, those employees with higher levels of economic stress show higher levels of absenteeism contributing at the same time to a decrease in innovative behaviors. These findings show the importance of economic stress in understanding individual work outcomes and highlight the need to promote adequate intervention programs.

The Effect of COVID-19 on the Hospitality Industry: The Implication for Open Innovation

The current coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19) has led the world toward severe socio-economic crisis and psychological distress. It has severely hit the economy; but the service sector, particularly the hospitality industry, is hard hit by it. It increases the sense of insecurity among the employees and their perception of being unemployed, adversely affecting their mental health. This research aims to contribute to the emerging debate by investigating the effect of economic crisis and non-employability on employees’ mental health through perceived job insecurity under the pandemic situation. It empirically examines the underlying framework by surveying 372 employees of the hospitality industry during COVID-19. Results indicate that perceived job insecurity mediates the relationship of fear of economic crisis, non-employability, and mental health. Furthermore, the contingency of fear of COVID-19 strengthens the indirect relationship of fear of economic crisis on mental health through perceived job insecurity. The findings will provide a new dimension to the managers to deal with the psychological factors associated with the employees’ mental health and add to the emerging literature of behavioral sciences. The study also highlights the increasing need for investment in the digital infrastructure and smart technologies for the hospitality industry.

Financial Insecurity During the COVID-19 Pandemic: Spillover Effects on Burnout-Disengagement Relationships and Performance of Employees Who Moonlight

The novel Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has magnified the issue of financial insecurity. However, its effect on individual-organizational relations and, consequently, on organizational performance remains understudied. Thus, the purpose of this study was to explore the spillover effect of financial insecurity on the burnout-disengagement relationship during the pandemic. The authors investigate in particular whether the spillover effect influences the performance of moonlighting employees and also explore the mediating effect of disengagement on the relationship between financial insecurity and burnout interaction effect and the performance (i.e., mediated-moderation). This study collected responses from 162 public and private sector employees who are engaged in moonlighting activities in Malaysia. The results from the partial least square structural equation modeling (PLS-SEM) revealed greater levels of financial insecurity and burnout associated with greater levels of work disengagement. The analysis of the interaction-moderation effect showed that when financial insecurity rises, the burnout effect on work disengagement increases among moonlighters. Using the PROCESS macro model, the results displayed burnout as a predictor of extra-role performance via a moderated (financial insecurity) mediation (work disengagement) relationship. Going forward, this study not only opens new avenues for research into the financial consequences of COVID-19 but also calls on managers to take proactive steps to mitigate the negative effect of the pandemic on the performance of moonlighting employees to keep them in the profession.

Presenteeism, Overcommitment, Workplace Bullying, and Job Satisfaction: A Moderated Mediation Relationship

Presenteeism is a hazardous behaviour that may have personal and organizational consequences. The main objective of this research was to investigate the relationship between presenteeism and job satisfaction and evaluate the role of overcommitment as a mediator and the role of work-related and personal bullying as moderators in these relationships. Results from 377 subjects showed that presenteeism and overcommitment are positively related to job satisfaction, with overcommitment being a mediator in the relationships. These relationships are moderated by work-related bullying but not by personal bullying. The findings are discussed, and implications, future research pathways, and limitations are noted.