Getting back to the “new normal”: Autonomy restoration during a global pandemic.

Abstract

We investigate the psychological recovery process of full-time employees during the 2-week period at the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic (COVID-19). Past research suggests that recovery processes start after stressors abate and can take months or years to unfold. In contrast, we build on autonomy restoration theory to suggest that recovery of impaired autonomy starts immediately even as a stressor is ongoing. Using growth curve modeling, we examined the temporal trajectories of two manifestations of impaired autonomy—powerlessness and (lack of) authenticity—to test whether recovery began as the pandemic unfolded. We tested our predictions using a unique experience-sampling dataset collected over a 2-week period beginning on the Monday after COVID-19 was declared a “global pandemic” by the World Health Organization and a “national emergency” by the U.S. Government (March 16–27, 2020). Results suggest that autonomy restoration was activated even as the pandemic worsened. Employees reported decreasing powerlessness and increasing authenticity during this period, despite their subjective stress-levels not improving. Further, the trajectories of recovery for both powerlessness and authenticity were steeper for employees higher (vs. lower) in neuroticism, a personality characteristic central to stress reactions. Importantly, these patterns do not emerge in a second experience-sampling study collected prior to the COVID-19 crisis (September 9–20, 2019), highlighting how the pandemic initially threatened employee autonomy, but also how employees began to recover their sense of autonomy almost immediately. The present research provides novel insights into employee well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic and suggests that psychological recovery can begin during a stressful experience.

The “Self” under COVID-19: Social role disruptions, self-authenticity and present-focused coping

“…Our research contributes to the growing literature on the psychological effect of COVID-19. While the majority of such research has examined the emotional distress engendered (e.g., [45,46]), fewer have examined effects on individuals' sense of self [47][48][49] and social identities [7,8]. We explicitly investigate how COVID-19's disruptions to social systems and social roles can undermine self-authenticity.…”

“…Indeed, past research related to authenticity under COVID-19 does so by way of autonomy, specifically, autonomy in the workplace. Anicich et al [47] find that COVID-19 weakens employees' sense of autonomy ("I feel like I am able to truly be myself right now"), while Dobson [62] finds that working from home in COVID-19 enhances workers' autonomy and authenticity. One way to interpret these results is that preserving autonomy can safeguard authenticity.…”

Beyond high and low: Obstacles and opportunities associated with conceptualizing middle power and other middle‐range effects

“…Scholars can assess variability in power states over time (i.e., power fluctuation) in two ways. The first method involves asking participants to report their momentary sense of power each day (or multiple times per day) over multiple days (e.g., “Right now, I feel powerful”; see Anicich et al., 2020) using an experience sampling or daily diary design and then estimating the standard deviation (SD) of the reports for each person. The only two papers to date that have explicitly assessed power fluctuation used this method (Anicich et al., 2021; Sabey et al., 2020).…”

Work-related stress and employee engagement among millennial workforce in the new normal

“…Meanwhile, Anicich et al (2020) investigated the process of psychological recovery of full-time employees Work-related stress and employee engagement among millennial workforce in the new normal…”

“…Evidently, Chillakuri and Mogili (2018), Plamann (2019), and Rivers (2018) postulated that the millennial generation differs from the previous generations in terms of workplace behavior, outlook, perspective, motivation, and loyalty, as well as, reason for leaving and job satisfaction. Additionally, Anicich, et al (2020) and the Deloitte Global Millennial Survey 2020, revealed that the millennial workforce displayed a marked resiliency in terms of recovering through the pandemic, considering them as a "resilient generation" holding the key to a better normal. Meanwhile, Codd (2020) mentioned that even before the pandemic, a substantial number of millennial and Gen Z workers were experiencing stress and anxiety most of the time.…”