Emotional Exhaustion and Engagement in Higher Education Students during a Crisis, Lessons Learned from COVID-19 Experience in Italian Universities

Italian university students face an uncertain future characterised by a competitive neoliberal academic environment with high demands and a weak labour market that often cannot hire those who are best qualified. The COVID-19 pandemic has exacerbated students' uncertainty and negatively affected their well-being. The purpose of this study is to explore perceptions of academic life during the pandemic and to examine the relationship between study load, reduced academic performance, internet addiction, academic self-efficacy, and engagement and emotional exhaustion. A sample of university students (N = 10,298) from 11 Italian universities completed a self-report questionnaire about their academic and personal lives between May and June 2021. We performed two multiple linear regressions and one ANOVA to highlight gender differences. Results indicate that female students reported lower levels of engagement and academic self-efficacy, and higher levels of exhaustion and study demands compared to male students, while older students generally appear to exhibit higher levels of well-being. Study load, reduced academic performance, and internet addiction showed a negative association with engagement, particularly the first two, and a positive association with exhaustion, while self-efficacy was positively associated with engagement and negatively associated with exhaustion. The results suggest the need to introduce additional forms of support, such as psychological support, internet addiction awareness courses or counseling services.

Resilience and Intercultural Interactions of Italian Erasmus Students: The Relation with Cultural Intelligence

Cultural Intelligence (CQ) is examined in the literature;nevertheless, a few studies have combined situational and personal aspects to enhance the comprehension of this construct, and none have considered resilience. Therefore, this study aims at investigating the role of international Erasmus students' resilience, the length of their experience, and the intercultural interactions of Italian Erasmus students in their relationship with CQ. Data were collected from 791 outgoing Italian Erasmus students by using a self-report questionnaire. The findings suggested the existence of a significant relationship between resilience and all dimensions of CQ, showing, with the exception of the behavioral dimension, large betas. Forming friendships with international students was positively and moderately related to motivational and metacognitive CQ. Establishing relationships with locals was only positively and weakly related to cognitive CQ. The time of sojourn was only positively and weakly associated with the metacognitive CQ. Developments in international academic mobility policies are discussed.

Might insecurity and use of ICT enhance internet addiction and exhaust people? A study in two European countries during emergency remote working.

Facing the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, we have witnessed a strong recourse to generalised lockdowns and to the deployment of remote working. These emergency measures have also thrown employers and employees into uncertainty regarding the present and future existence of their job. The present study aimed to examine the role of job insecurity and job demands in non-working hours through technologies on emotional exhaustion mediated by Internet addiction. A total of 999 remote workers, 501 of whom live in France and 498 in Italy, completed a self-report questionnaire during the first lockdown. Results suggest that both job insecurity and the requests to use technology for work purposes during non-work time exacerbate emotional exhaustion through the mediation of Internet Addiction. Limitations, future perspectives, and implications for management are discussed.

Work-family conflict during the Covid-19 pandemic: teleworking of administrative and technical staff in healthcare. An Italian study.

BACKGROUND: Remote working (more appropriately, mandatory work from home) during the Covid-19 healthcare emergency has increased significantly. Amidst many critical issues, work-family conflict (WFC) remains a central topic, due to the hardships in separating different life domains, the pervasiveness of technology, and decreased opportunities for recovery, all considering new, emerging job demands. Although many studies have involved healthcare workers, less attention has been paid to technical-administrative staff (TA); moreover, previous studies about the impact of remote working on WFC have provided mixed results. OBJECTIVES: The study aims at examining the relationships between WFC and cognitive demands, off-work hours technology assisted job demands (off-TAJD) and recovery, in the TA of a hospital in northwest Italy. METHODS: A sample of 211 individuals (response rate of 58%), in line with the population, filled in an online self-report questionnaire in the second half of April 2020. RESULTS: Multiple regression analysis showed a positive relationship between WFC and perceived ICT stress, off-TAJD and cognitive demands, and a negative relationship with recovery. CONCLUSIONS: The results confirm the role of cognitive demands, technology overload and invasiveness, as potential predictors of WFC. The results also indicate the mitigating role of recovery, even in the face of a prolonged and forced experience of remote work. The study emphasises the need for transparent policies, based on trust, autonomy and right to disconnect, and the centrality of training, especially for supervisors, on topics such as evaluation of results, proper recovery management and correct use of technology.

Far Away, So Close? The Role of Destructive Leadership in the Job Demands–Resources and Recovery Model in Emergency Telework

During the Covid-19 pandemic, people started teleworking intensively, which has led to some benefits in terms of economic continuity, but also some complaints. International teams of scholars have pointed out the new work-related challenges, underlining leaders’role in successfully managing them. This study aimed at investigating the role of destructive leadership in the job demands–resources and recovery model during the Covid-19 pandemic. In detail, this study intended to assess (1) whether destructive leadership is positively associated with off-work-hours technology-assisted job demand (off-TAJD) and cognitive demands, as well as whether it decreases autonomy, (2) whether two demands—off-TAJD and cognitive demands—and two resources—social support and autonomy—are respectively negatively and positively related to recovery, and (3) whether recovery mediates the relationship between demands, resources, and exhaustion. A total of 716 French remote workers (61% were women) took part in this study. Data were collected using a self-report questionnaire. A multi-group structural equation model was used to test the hypotheses. The findings confirmed a significant association between destructive leadership, the two job demands, and autonomy;furthermore, all three variables mediated the relationship between destructive leadership and recovery. The findings showed the key role played by recovery as a mediator between, on one hand, off-TAJD, cognitive demands, autonomy, and social support, and, on the other hand, exhaustion. This study highlighted the role of destructive leadership, job resources, job demands, and recovery as determinants of exhaustion, illustrating their relationships in a sample of remote workers. Practical implications are discussed.