Leading through the uncertainty of COVID‐19: The joint influence of leader emotions and gender on abusive and family‐supportive supervisory behaviours

As COVID‐19 was a highly novel virus in 2019, it brought risks that are difficult to quantify and rampant uncertainty to the fore. We focus on how leaders navigate such an uncertain context. Drawing upon appraisal theories of emotions, we first argue that under the context of high uncertainty, leaders experience emotions relating to their perceptions of (un)controllability: anxiety and hope. We predict that these have differential behavioural consequences;leaders' anxiety about the pandemic relates to abusive supervision, whereas leaders' hope relates to family‐supportive supervision. Integrating research on gender roles, we theorize that counter to common stereotypes, men's leadership would be more affected by their emotions. At the same time, women would provide leadership behaviours needed by their followers irrespective of their emotions;namely, refraining from abusive and providing family‐supportive supervision. Our hypotheses were supported using a sample of 137 leader‐follower dyads in the early phases of the pandemic. Our research has significant implications for appraisal theories of emotions by demonstrating that the behaviours of women, compared to men, may be less affected by their emotions. These findings present a significant departure from previous literature by revealing an important boundary condition of appraisal theories of emotions. [ FROM AUTHOR] Copyright of Journal of Occupational & Organizational Psychology is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full . (Copyright applies to all s.)

Granting Leadership to Asian Americans: the Activation of Ideal Leader and Ideal Follower Traits on Observers’ Leadership Perceptions

Despite demonstrating high levels of academic and professional competence, Asians are underrepresented in leadership roles in North America. The limited research on this topic has found that Asian Americans are perceived by others as poorer leaders than White Americans due to perceptions that Asians lack the ideal traits of a Western leader (i.e., agentic) relative to White Americans. However, we contend that, in addition to poorly activating ideal leader traits, Asian Americans may strongly activate ideal follower traits (e.g., industrious and reliable), and being seen as a good follower may pigeonhole Asian Americans in non-managerial roles. Across 4 studies, our findings generally supported our arguments regarding the activation of ideal follower traits and lack of activation of ideal leader traits for Asian American workers. However, compared to their majority group counterparts, we found some unexpected evidence for a more favorable view of Asian Americans as leaders, which was primarily driven by the greater activation of ideal follower traits (i.e., industry and good citizen) among Asian American workers. Yet, we uncover an important boundary condition in that these “good follower” advantages did not accrue when observers experienced threat—revealing how the benefits of so-called positive stereotypes of Asian American workers are context dependent. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10869-022-09794-3.

Emerging Research in Industrial–Organizational Psychology in Canada

[...]we present some key workplace challenges, emphasize the excellent work done by I-O psychology researchers across Canada, and highlight what we believe are the next steps needed to maintain vibrant I-O scholarship in this country. Led largely by female researchers, this body of literature tackles important issues such as gender biases, stereotypes, and prejudice women face in performance appraisals, leadership, and negotiations;the work-family interface;organizational interventions;and institutional barriers to gender equality. [...]in the context of standardized testing, the social benefits of accommodation must be considered alongside the risks for the hiring organization;for instance, negative potential impacts on test validity. [...]the trajectory of collective efficacy tends to be negative in most virtual teams;however, teams that are able to minimize this decline tend to perform better. [...]this work highlights some of the challenges that remote teams must face and overcome in order to be effective.

Work as replenishment or responsibility? Moderating effects of occupational calling on the within-person relationship between COVID-19 news consumption and work engagement.

As the result of the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), individuals have been inundated with constant negative news related to the pandemic. However, limited research examines how such news consumption impacts employees' work lives, including their ability to remain engaged with their work. Integrating conservation of resources theory and insights from the media psychology literature with research on occupational calling, we propose that weekly COVID-related news consumption heightens employees' anxiety levels, thereby frustrating their ability to remain engaged with work and that this process is differentially moderated by different facets of occupational calling. Specifically, we postulate that those who are called to their work primarily because it gives them personal meaning and purpose (i.e., higher in purposeful work) will remain more engaged with work in the face of the anxiety that arises from consuming COVID-related news, as their work may facilitate resource replenishment for these individuals. Conversely, we postulate that those who are drawn to their work primarily because it allows them to help others (i.e., higher in prosocial orientation) will experience the opposite effect, such that their inability to help others during the pandemic will strengthen the negative effect of anxiety on work engagement. Results from an 8-week weekly diary study with a sample of 281 Canadian employees during the pandemic provided support for our hypotheses. Implications are discussed for maintaining employee work engagement during the pandemic era, and beyond. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).

Safety implications of different forms of understaffing among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic.

AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate the processes through which personnel understaffing and expertise understaffing jointly shape near misses among nurses during the COVID-19 pandemic. BACKGROUND: Inadequate staffing is a chronic issue within the nursing profession, with the safety consequences of understaffing likely being exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. DESIGN: This study used a three-wave, time-separated survey design and collected data from 120 nurses in the United States working on the frontline of the pandemic in hospital settings. METHODS: Participants were recruited through convenience sampling in early April 2020. Eligible nurses completed three surveys across a 6-week period during the COVID-19 pandemic from mid-April to the end of May 2020. Study hypotheses were tested with path analyses. RESULTS/FINDINGS: Results reveal that personnel understaffing and expertise understaffing jointly shape near misses, which are known to precede and contribute to accidents and injuries, through different mechanisms. Specifically, personnel understaffing led to greater use of safety workarounds, which only induced near misses when cognitive failures were high. Further, higher levels of cognitive failures appeared to be the result of greater expertise understaffing. CONCLUSION: This study highlights the importance of addressing issues of understaffing, especially during times of crisis, to better promote nurse and patient safety. IMPACT: This study was the first to examine the distinct mechanisms by which two forms of understaffing impact safety outcomes in the form of near misses. Understanding these mechanisms can help leaders and policymakers make informed staffing decisions by considering the safety implications of understaffing issues.

Depending on your own kindness: The moderating role of self-compassion on the within-person consequences of work loneliness during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has transformed the way we work, with many employees working under isolating and difficult conditions. However, research on the antecedents, consequences, and buffers of work loneliness is scarce. Integrating research on need for belonging, regulatory loop models of loneliness, and self-compassion, the current study addresses this critical issue by developing and testing a conceptual model that highlights how COVID-related stressors frustrate employees' need for belonging (i.e., telecommuting frequency, job insecurity, and a lack of COVID-related informational justice), negatively impacting worker well-being (i.e., depression) and helping behaviors [i.e., organizational citizenship behavior (OCB)] through work loneliness. Furthermore, we examine the buffering role of self-compassion in this process. Results from a weekly diary study of U.S. employees conducted over 2 months during the initial stage of the pandemic provide support for the mediating role of work loneliness in relations between all three proposed antecedents and both outcomes. In addition, self-compassion mitigated the positive within-person relationship between work loneliness and employee depression, indicating that more self-compassionate employees were better able to cope with their feelings of work loneliness. Although self-compassion also moderated the within-person relationship between work loneliness and OCB, this interaction was different in form from our prediction. Implications for enhancing employee well-being and helping behaviors during and beyond the pandemic are discussed. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2021 APA, all rights reserved).