Can We Mitigate Covid-19 Related Work Strain Among Civil Servants? Examining the Role of Organizational Commitment, Job Autonomy and Workplace Social Support

The extraordinary measures taken to constrain infections with the coronavirus may have altered the known psychological processes preventing stress and strain in the public workplace. We use survey data of a large public organization in Belgium to look at the capacity of affective organizational commitment, perceived job autonomy, and workplace social support to buffer the impact of Covid-19 measures on work strain. We find a negative effect of perceived job autonomy on stress resulting from Covid-19 measures. We find no support for the buffering effect of affective organizational commitment and workplace social support on employee strain induced by Covid-19 measures.