The Relationship between Role Ambiguity and Workers' Creativity during the COVID-19 Pandemic in China.

Job role ambiguity is becoming more and more common due to the increase in telecommuting caused by the COVID-19 epidemic. In order to understand the internal mechanism of the association between role ambiguity and creativity, this study examined it in the context of the Demands-Resources-Individual Effects (DRIVE) model. Participants were employees from all walks of life in mainland China, with a total of 437 valid data. The results showed that role ambiguity had no significant direct effect on creativity but exerted a negative effect on creativity through the chain mediating effect of affective rumination and perceived stress. A good relationship with a supervisor helped employees reduce their affective rumination when faced with the pressure of role ambiguity. The results show that how employees perceive role ambiguity plays an essential role in determining the potency of the after-effect of role ambiguity. Resources from supervisors can help reduce the negative perception of ambiguous roles.

A hotel stay for a respite from work? Examining recovery experience, rumination and well-being among hotel and bed-and-breakfast guests

Purpose>This paper aims to examine the relationship among guests’ lodging recovery experience, work-related rumination, guest satisfaction and well-being, within the context of hotels and bed and breakfasts (B&Bs).Design/methodology/approach>The sample included 823 Taiwanese full-time workers. The proposed relationships were tested using partial least square structural equation modeling, and the moderating effects of accommodation types were tested using multi-group analysis.Findings>The research findings indicate that staying at a hotel or B&B provides a respite from work and reduces negative, repetitive thoughts about work issues (work-related rumination). These recovery effects then contribute to customer satisfaction and hedonic and eudaimonic well-being.Practical implications>The findings indicate that practitioners need to develop products that could reduce customers’ negative emotional attachments to work and enhance the well-being of customers in a stressful society, which could ultimately contribute to promoting the public health of full-time workers.Originality/value>To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this study is the first to examine the stress-recovery aspect of lodging experiences and their impacts on customer satisfaction and well-being. Further insights are demonstrated with the inclusion of work-related rumination.