Social support and perceived uncertainties during COVID-19: Consequences for employees' wellbeing

The COVID-19 crisis has drastically affected organizations worldwide, thereby influencing the employees' psychological wellbeing. Since it is a new pandemic, research is sparse in the domain of employees' psychological wellbeing in relation to the phenomenon. Drawing on social support and job demand-resource perspectives, this research adds to the factors affecting employees' wellbeing due to the coronavirus outbreak. Specifically, this study is an investigation of co-workers' instrumental support in predicting employees' emotional exhaustion via employees' perceived uncertainties experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, we tested for the contextual specificity of family support on uncertainties and its link with employees' emotional exhaustion. With data drawn from two universities (n = 275), the findings reveal a negative association between co-worker task support and an employee's emotional exhaustion, and an employee's perceived uncertainties mediate this relationship. Moreover, the moderating analysis exhibits that family support mitigates the negative effect of uncertainty perception on emotional exhaustion. Our study reveals that coworker and family support are extremely important during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings are equally valuable for organizations and society to mitigate the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on employees' wellbeing.

Automated summary

The COVID-19 crisis has had a significant impact on organizations worldwide, affecting the psychological wellbeing of employees. This study investigates the role of co-workers' instrumental support and family support in predicting employees' emotional exhaustion during the pandemic. The findings indicate that co-worker task support is negatively related to emotional exhaustion, and employees' perceived uncertainties mediate this relationship. Additionally, family support moderates the negative effect of uncertainty perception on emotional exhaustion.