The role of perceived workplace safety practices and mindfulness in maintaining calm in employees during times of crisis

Abstract

While prior studies in human resource management have investigated how employee outcomes have been affected in high-risk workplaces, this study stands out by examining this issue through the role played by COVID-19 as a specific stressor. We explained how employees' perceived health risks due to COVID-19 (CV19PHR) and perceived workplace safety practices (PWSPs) affected job performance via burnout and how PWSPs moderated the CV19PHR-burnout and CV19PHR-JP relationships. We also examined how mindfulness moderated the direct effects of CV19PHR and PWSPs on burnout and JP and the indirect effects of CV19PHR and PWSPs on JP via burnout. We performed three studies using an explanatory sequential mixed-method design. In study 1, a three-phase survey with 987 respondents was conducted to test the hypotheses. In study 2, by analyzing verbatim from 22 informants, the findings of study 1 and some main points concerning mindfulness and PWSPs were explained. In study 3, using data from 12 informants, we investigated how COVID-19 affected individuals differently compared with other high-risk workplaces and whether the impact of COVID-19 on individuals was curvilinear. We demonstrated that employees' CV19PHR was positively correlated with burnout, negatively influencing JP. Moreover, PWSPs reduced burnout, which adversely affected JP. Interestingly, PWSPs positively moderated the CV19PHR-burnout relationship but not the CV19PHR-JP relationship. We also found that mindfulness moderated the CV19PHRburnout and PWSPs-burnout relationships. Furthermore, mindfulness significantly moderated the mediating effects of burnout on the CV19PHR-JP and PWSPs-JP relationships. K E Y W O R D S burnout, COVID-19, job performance, mindfulness, perceived health risks, perceived workplace safety practices 1 | INTRODUCTION COVID-19 has had adverse social, economic, and human consequences (International Labor Organization, 2020), causing anxiety, fear, and stress in individuals (Dryhurst et al., 2020). Unlike previous pandemics, such as Ebola or Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS), COVID-19 is asymptomatic and has a high mortality rate.When faced with a disaster causing many deaths, workers become more appreciative of life and adopt more prosocial behaviors toward society and coworkers (Grant & Wade-Benzoni, 2009;. COVID-19 is also a more chronic episode that will trigger relatively long-term impacts on employee attitudes and behaviors and "cool,"Thinh-Van Vu, Tan Vo-Thanh, and Hsinkuang Chi contributed equally to this study.

Strategic human resource management in the era of environmental disruptions

“…Further, scholars may want to examine the possibility of intercultural differences when it comes to employees from different cultural backgrounds and the way they tend to deal with environmental disruptions. For example, in this issue, Vu et al (2022) demonstrated that Vietnamese employees worry about their job security during various disasters and, therefore, work harder than in "normal" times. In contrast, employees in the United Kingdom (Barclay et al, in this issue) do not passively accept the disruptions imposed on them but, rather, proactively respond to such disruptions and resulting workplace changes by, for instance, crafting their own jobs.…”

“…We need to further extend our knowledge about HR practices and policies that will mitigate employees' stress caused by environmental disruptions. Two studies in this special issue show that an organization's tangible support for a disastrous event is essential to mitigate employees' stress (Mihalache & Mihalache, 2022; Vu et al, 2022). One promising avenue for future research is to build on HR process literature that focuses on the processes through which HR practices generate their outcomes (Sanders & Yang, 2021).…”

Could mindfulness diminish mental health disorders? The serial mediating role of self-compassion and psychological well-being

“…The COVID-19 pandemic has caused several devastating consequences in many sectors around the world and in different aspects of life, such as the economy, society, and public health in particular (Nicola et al, 2020 ; Pak et al, 2020 ; Vo-Thanh et al, 2021 , 2022 ; Vu et al, 2022 ). In addition, this pandemic has destructive psychological outcomes on mental health symptoms, partially relying on individuals’ features (Reilly et al, 2021 ), including university students (Sun et al, 2021 ).…”

The Role of Mindfulness in Mitigating the Detrimental Effects of Harsh Parenting among Chinese Adolescents: Testing a Moderated Mediation Model in a Three-Wave Study

“…We assessed mindfulness with five items from Brown and Ryan’s Mindful Attention and Awareness Scale, adapted by Hülsheger et al [ 32 , 68 ]. Ni et al demonstrated that this scale has excellent reliability and validity for Chinese individuals [ 51 ].…”

“…In response to previous calls for longitudinal studies to further explore the relationship between parenting styles and suicidal ideation [ 13 ], this study proposes that harsh parenting, a family stressor, may lead to adolescent depressive symptoms and then trigger suicidal ideation based on COR theory. Moreover, mindfulness, a key personal resource [ 31 , 32 ], may play an important role in mitigating and preventing the loss spiral and thus moderate the effects of harsh parenting on depressive symptoms and suicidal ideation. Therefore, this study theoretically proposes an integrated model to understand the relationship between harsh parenting and suicidal ideation in Chinese adolescents (see Figure 1 ).…”