مقاله انگلیسی رایگان در مورد تأثیر شیوه‌های ایمنی محل کار مرتبط با همه‌گیری بر نتایج سلامت کارکنان – الزویر ۲۰۲۲

Abstract

     The COVID-19 pandemic has exposed the vulnerability of frontline employee (FLEs) to infections and other hazards and highlighted the importance of workplace safety practices (WSP) for service organizations. In response to the critical issue of service safety, we developed and empirically tested a model proposing that WSPs negatively influence FLE perceptions of pandemic related threats and positively influence their perceptions of organizational supportiveness (POS). In turn, these perceptions have time-lagged effects on two aspects of FLE wellbeing—reduced emotional exhaustion and increased work engagement. Utilizing data from a two-wave (separated by a month) survey panel consisting of 310 FLEs across the United States, we found evidence for all hypothesized relationships. We discuss the practical and theoretical implications of our findings and provide suggestions for future research on service safety on the organizational frontlines.

Literature review and hypotheses

     We propose and empirically test a model of FLE workplace safety exploring the relationship between FLE perceptions of WSPs on two specific wellbeing outcomes – emotional exhaustion and work engagement, with these relationships fully mediated by job demands and resources, respectively. Our conceptual framework represented in Fig. 1 proposes that WSPs (both, essential and discretionary) negatively influence FLE perceptions of risks/hazards related to COVID-19 and positively influence their perceptions of organizational support. In other words, in workplaces where there is a focus on implementing both, essential and discretionary safety practices, FLEs perceive fewer risks/hazards and higher levels of organizational supportiveness. Consistent with JD-R theory, risks/hazards are experienced by FLEs as job demands that drain their psychological resources, while organizational support is experienced as a job resource that helps replenish this resource loss (Bakker & Demerouti, 2017). Further, job demands result in emotional exhaustion, while job resources translate into FLE work engagement. Our framework and the resultant hypotheses are described in the following section.

Results

     Descriptive statistics, reliability estimates, average variance explained (AVE), and inter-construct correlations are provided in Table 2. This data can be used to establish the integrity of the measurement model (Fornell & Bookstein, 1982). Further, Cronbach alpha statistics exceeded the 0.7 threshold recommended by Nunnally and Bernstein (1967), and AVEs associated with each latent construct (see Table 2) exceeded the recommended threshold of 0.5 (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). Discriminant validity was also observed as the bivariate correlations did not exceed the square root of the associated AVEs (Fornell & Larcker, 1981). These findings support the integrity of the measurement model.