A Bibliometric and Co-Occurrence Analysis of Work-Life Balance: Related Literature Published Pre- and During COVID-19 Pandemic

Work-life balance helps to maintain an attractive organizational culture and remove work-life conflicts and show the path to employees of how to be more efficient in different work roles. This balanced practice is giving a care and feeling of protection to the employees. It motivates better performance that contributes to employee engagement indices. The main purpose of this study is to report work-life balance pre- and during the COVID-19 pandemic by bibliometric analysis. This study analyzed 4,030 "work-life balance” studies published between January 1, 2010 and December 31, 2019, from the pre-pandemic era, and 1,143 studies published during the pandemic (between January 1, 2020-March 24, 2021). The data were extracted from the Scopus database using keywords "work-life balance” and keywords in titles (items) analyzed using VOSviewer software. Co-occurrence connection between keywords in titles and density visualization based on the total link strength clearly shows that COVID-19 significantly impacted work-life balance and related research. © 2023 IGI Global. All rights reserved.

A reflection on the Great Resignation in the hospitality and tourism industry

Purpose: This paper aims to provide a critical reflection on the Great Resignation in the hospitality and tourism industry in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. Specifically, this paper reviews the causes and effects of the Great Resignation, addresses the labor shortage in this industry and proposes strategies that can help manage the challenges. Design/methodology/approach: This paper is based on a critical analysis of emerging phenomena, related literature and researchers' experiences and insights. Findings: The Great Resignation has presented unprecedented challenges for the hospitality and tourism industry. A closer examination reveals that the pandemic has served as a catalyst rather than a leading cause of this trend. Workforce issues are becoming increasingly complex under contemporary influences, including internal elements such as new explications at work and external factors like the gig economy and technology implementation. Practical implications: This study provides practical implications on how Hospitality and Tourism practitioners can respond to the Great Resignation on micro, meso and macro levels. The practical implications revolve around employees' changing needs and preferences in the wave of Great Resignation, as well as the necessity for employers' reflection and improvement. Originality/value: This study marks an initial attempt to provide a critical assessment of a contemporary issue involving the Great Resignation. This paper extends its discussion through an advanced analysis of the issue, offers suggestions to manage current obstacles related to labor issues in hospitality and tourism, and illuminates future research directions. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Does employee empowerment moderate the effect of situational and dispositional variables on emotional exhaustion differently? The COVID-19 crisis context

Purpose: Building on the conservation of resources (COR) theory, this study aims to investigate employee empowerment's moderation effect on the relationship of situational (job satisfaction, affective commitment) and dispositional (positive affectivity, emotional intelligence) variables toward the emotional exhaustion of service employees amidst the pandemic. Design/methodology/approach: In total, 288 service employees from various sectors in Indonesia participate as the study's respondents. This study applies a two-stage structural equation modeling approach to test the hypotheses. Findings: The results show that employee empowerment moderates situational and dispositional variables differently. While employee empowerment significantly influences situational variables, a different situation is found on dispositional variables, that employee empowerment does not significantly influence these variables. This study's findings portray the COR theory in practice and clarify the importance of employee empowerment for employees with particular attributions. Research limitations/implications: The present study bears four limitations: the cross-sectional design;no exploration of dispositional and situational variables' antecedents;the findings are limited to the service workers;and lastly, this study only takes Indonesian samples. Practical implications: From a practical perspective, this study reveals which type of service employees are responsive to empowerment policy and which are prone to experience emotional exhaustion, particularly during a crisis. Social implications: By understanding what factors determine employee empowerment's effectiveness, managers could maximize the impacts of their empowerment policies. Subsequently, it will create better service deliveries which might benefit the broader societal scope. Originality/value: This study contributes to both theoretical and practical understanding. Theoretically, this study adds and promotes using a categorical lens to examine the pattern of interactions between organizations and employees. © 2022, Jaya Addin Linando and M. Halim.

ICT use, internal communication satisfaction, and engagement of working-from-home employees: The moderating role of affiliative tendency

This study examined the effect of information and communication technology (ICT) use on working-from-home employees' internal communication satisfaction and engagement level during the COVID-19 pandemic. The moderating role of individuals' affiliative tendency was also explored. Results of an online survey with a representative sample of U.S. full-time working-from-home employees after the pandemic suggested that formal use of ICT for work—e-mail, video-conferencing, instant messaging, and phone—was positively associated with employees' informational and relational satisfaction, which in turn, enhanced their engagement. Informal use of ICT was also positively related to employees' relational satisfaction and such an effect was particularly salient for employees high in affiliative tendency. Theoretical and practical implications for effective internal communication and ICT use are discussed. • The effect of ICT use for working-from-home employees was examined. • Formal ICT use satisfied employees' information and relational needs. • Informal use fulfilled relational needs of employees high in affiliative tendency. • Informational and relational needs increased employee engagement.

The Role of Base Crisis Response and Dialogic Competency: Employee Response to COVID-19 Internal Crisis Communication

Informed by crisis communication literature and dialogic communication theory, this study proposed an internal crisis communication model for the COVID-19 pandemic, considering base crisis responses (i.e., instructing information, adjusting information) and dialogic competency (i.e., mutuality, openness) as key variables. Trust in organizational commitment related to the COVID-19 pandemic was presented as a mediator. Through this model, we examined how employees' sense of belonging to their organization, relational satisfaction, and their support for organizational decisions about COVID-19 were related to the factors presented. An online survey of full-time employees in the U.S. was conducted. The study found that instructing information in the context of COVID-19 was positively associated with employee trust in their organization's pandemic-related commitment and, in turn, increased employees' support for organizational decisions, sense of belonging, and relationship satisfaction. Conversely, adjusting information had a negative effect on employee trust in organizational commitment. The dialogic competency of employers in COVID-19-related internal crisis communication, characterized by mutuality and openness, was not only indirectly related to positive employee responses through trust in their organization's commitment, but was also directly related to greater support of organizational decisions, a sense of belonging, and relationship satisfaction. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications were discussed. © 2022 The Author(s). Published with license by Taylor & Francis Group, LLC.

Perceived Overqualification and Job Outcomes: The Moderating Role of Manager Envy

In this study, we suggest that manager envy will moderate the relationship between perceived overqualification and job-related outcomes (employee turnover, job satisfaction, and performance evaluation). We examined our hypotheses using a sample of 322 employees working in five-star hotels in the United Arab Emirates (UAE), gathered across five time periods. Web-based questionnaires were utilized to collect the data due to the COVID-19 pandemic and in order to obtain results more quickly. We gathered data from June 2021 to February 2022 from superiors at T1 and T4 and subordinates at T2 and T3 in five periods. We left a gap of two weeks between each period, and the same respondents were utilized for all phases. The findings indicate that perceived overqualification was more strongly and negatively related to employee job satisfaction when managers reported high envy. Furthermore, when envy was high, employee overqualification was positively related to job turnover. Promotion had no direct or moderated effects. The implications for the literature on overqualification and envy were addressed. The findings suggest that group-level implications on how perceived overqualification influences employees should be investigated. Perceived overqualification as a result of reporting to envious supervisors had a detrimental impact on the perceived performance and achievement of individuals who were overqualified. The findings also emphasize the relevance of examining overqualification at many levels of analysis, as well as the need to look into manager-level moderators. © 2022 by the authors.

CSR, credibility, employees' rights and legitimacy during a crisis: a critical analysis of British Airways, WizAir and EasyJet cases

Purpose: Using legitimacy and impression management theories, this study examines whether there is evidence of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) decoupling by critically analysing the cases of three Financial Times Stock Exchange (FTSE) 350 airline companies (British Airways, WizAir, and Easyjet). The study focusses on three CSR aspects: community, customer, and employee support. Design/methodology/approach: Using the case study method, the authors critically analysed the content of the three companies' websites and verified Twitter accounts between March 2020 and August 2020. The authors also reviewed news media sources tied explicitly to COVID-19 and the airline industry. Findings: The study finds evidence of CSR decoupling due to inconsistencies between the three airline companies' communication about the companies' commitment to customers' health and safety and their actions. The study also uncovers that the three airline companies have violated employee rights by imposing unjustifiable and excessive redundancies and pay cuts, freezing planned pay rises, forcing unpaid leaves, and in some cases, suspending free meals during the crew shifts and exploiting the financial pressure and lack of jobs resulting from the pandemic by offering employees inferior contracts. Research limitations/implications: This paper responds to He and Harris's (2020) call for research to explore the impact of the global pandemic on CSR practices and Crane and Matten's (2020) call for research investigating how specific stakeholders get unvalued during the pandemic. The authors' study argues that the social responsibility of organisations, especially during crises, should not only focus on voluntary and charitable deeds but also on supporting employees, putting employees' well-being at the forefront of employees' operations, and maintaining credibility and sincerity in employees' communication and actions. Practical implications: The findings in this paper provide insights and policy implications for managers, stakeholders, and regulators. The paper sheds light on violations of employee rights, indicating that employees in the airline sector are amongst the under-appreciated stakeholders during the pandemic. Such knowledge is essential for practitioners and policymakers who are charting paths forward to address the needs of vulnerable categories of employees. The paper also elucidates the impact of CSR decoupling on an organisation's legitimacy and the significance of maintaining credibility in CSR communications and actions, especially during a crisis. Originality/value: Although exploring and analysing CSR practices in organisations has already attracted considerable interest in recent years, there is minimal knowledge about organisations' genuine commitment to CSR during the pandemic, and there is a dearth of relevant studies in the aviation industry during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study addresses this gap by exploring the CSR practices of three airline companies and the companies' genuine commitment to CSR during the pandemic. © 2022, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Employee engagement: systematization of approaches to the definition and measurement

The popularity of the concept of employee engagement in the scientific community has grown significantly over the past few decades, many large companies have implemented it in practice, conducting regular engagement surveys. However, there is still no common understanding of the essence of this phenomenon, what it consists of, what factors influence its formation and how to measure it. Purpose. The purpose of the article is to systematize the approaches to defining and measuring employee engagement, proposed in scientific and professional publications, as well as to discuss methodological challenges and prospects in connection with the transformation of the context of work. Method. The first part of the article examines the most famous scientific approaches to the definition of engagement at work and related constructs, factors, and models of involvement, including applied ones, used by consulting companies. The second part focuses on the measurement of engagement. The third part discusses the new challenges facing employee engagement researchers and practitioners in the face of changing working conditions, most notably the widespread use of digital technology and remote working accelerated by COVID-19 pandemic. The article is based on a review of scientific and professional literature and contains several elements of novelty. Findings. For the first time, a detailed analysis of the main theoretical approaches to interpreting and measuring the employee engagement construct presented in foreign and domestic literature was carried out;the characteristics of the employee engagement models of consulting companies, which are used by practitioners in the field of organizational psychology, and human resource management, are given;the challenges in the field of conceptualization and methodology for measuring the employee engagement in the new conditions of doing business and organizing work were described. Value of results. The scientific significance of the article lies in the systematization of various areas of theoretical and empirical studies in foreign and domestic literature on employee engagement. HR managers can get from the article valuable information about the specific approaches of consulting companies involved in conducting employee engagement surveys, which can be used to interpret their results, and to design their own engagement surveys taking into account the company's characteristics.

Decoding employee experiences during pandemic through online employee reviews: insights to organizations

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to unearth various dimensions of employee experience (EX) and explore how pandemic impacted various EX factors using online employee reviews. The authors identify employee-discussed EX-factors and quantify the associated sentiments and importance. Design/methodology/approach: This paper employs Latent Dirichlet Allocation on the online employee reviews to identify the key EX-factors. The authors probe sentiments and importance associated with key EX-factors using sentiment analysis, importance analysis, regression analysis and dominance analysis. Findings: The result of topic modeling identifies 20 EX-factors that shape overall EX. While skill development plays a major role in shaping overall EX, employees perceived Salary and Growth as the most important EX-factor and expressed negative sentiments during the pandemic. Employee sentiments significantly influence overall EX. Practical implications: When employees have extensive change experience, managers should consider various facets of EX to manage the smooth change and deliver a better EX. This research offers key EX-factors to be considered by managers while dealing with employees. Online employee reviews websites are recommended to include the identified key EX-factors to comprehend the holistic EX. Originality/value: This study contributes to the growing literature on the employee experience as a concept by identifying various EX-factors. The authors expand the extant EX scales by identifying an inclusive and updated set of EX-factors. © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited.

Knowledge about, acceptance of and willingness to use over-the-counter COVID-19 self-testing kits

Objectives: Early investments in new diagnostic technologies that allow for rapid and decentralized testing were critical in reducing SARS-CoV-2's detrimental health and economic effects. This study evaluates public knowledge about, acceptance of and willingness to use COVID-19 self-testing kits. Methods: An online descriptive cross-sectional questionnaire was used in this study. The final study population included all contacted national and resident adults, age 18 and over, who were willing to engage in the study. The survey was divided according to participants' demographic information and 11 questions assessed the respondents' understanding of and willingness to use COVID-19 self-testing kits. The statistical analysis was carried out using SPSS version 24. Multivariate linear regression models were used to identify the factors influencing respondents' knowledge of and attitudes toward the acceptability of self-testing kits for COVID-19 and their willingness to use these kits. Key findings: A total of 876 respondents participated in the study and completed the whole questionnaire. The average knowledge score on the acceptability of and willingness to use self-testing kits for COVID-19 was 70.2%, with a 95% confidence interval (CI) [69.1%, 71.4%]. Participants who were postgraduate, female and vaccinated against COVID-19, as well as employees and older participants, were jointly highly associated with higher levels of knowledge about, acceptance of and willingness to use self-testing kits for COVID-19. Moreover, participants who had been infected with COVID-19, were vaccinated against COVID-19 or were female, employees, older, Western or Arabic were jointly highly associated with positive attitudes about the acceptability of and willingness to use self-testing kits for COVID-19. Conclusions: The majority of the respondents have acceptable levels of knowledge about, acceptance of and willingness to use self-testing kits for COVID-19. Nonetheless, future studies should consider the issues of pre- and post-test counselling, false negative results and the sale of unregulated testing kits. Additional information should be communicated so that people can make informed decisions and be protected from possible abuse of COVID-19 self-testing kits when they become available in pharmacies.

Managing organizational change in responding to global crises

To cope with global crises, organizations go through various internal changes and adopt different survival strategies. Several researchers and practitioners have highlighted that employees are the key factors in implementing such changes. However, organizations often face difficulties in managing manpower effectively due to the complexities and ambiguities related to the said changes. To address this challenge, the present study proposes a comprehensive model to manage organizational change to effectively respond to global crises. This study highlights that "employee change-championing behavior” (ECB) – also known as effective change-supportive behavior of employees – is the key to successfully implementing the necessary organizational changes to tackle global crises. Utilizing the 3-Stage Lewin's Model of Change as the foundation for analysis, this study proposes for "transformational leadership style” to substitute the "unfreezing stage,” "trust in leadership and work engagement” to substitute the "moving stage,” and "employee change championing behavior” to substitute the "refreezing stage.” Additionally, this study found that transformational leadership (TL) influences employee change-championing behavior, while employee trust in leadership (ETL) influences employee work engagement (EWE). Moreover, trust in leadership and work engagement individually and sequentially mediate the relationship between TL and employee change-championing behavior. This study offers a unique perspective for business leaders on how to manage organizational changes during global crises. © 2022 Wiley Periodicals LLC.

Innovation in manufacturing SMEs during the COVID-19 pandemic: How does environmental dynamism reinforce employee proactive behavior?

In a turbulent environment such as during the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, employee proactive behavior is imperative for innovation initiatives in small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We ask whether and how turbulent environments motivate employees to proactively engage in innovative behavior. This study argues that employees' perceptions of environmental dynamism reinforce employee proactive innovation behavior. Using a sample comprising 262 innovative employees from 40 manufacturing SMEs in Taiwan, this study tests a moderated-mediation model in which environmental dynamism is expected to increase the indirect effect of creative self-efficacy on employee innovative behavior through knowledge acquisition. The results confirm the mediating role of knowledge acquisition and the positive moderating effect of environmental dynamism. This study sheds light on the issue of employee proactive behavior in response to changing environments. © 2022 Elsevier Inc.

Scalable and sustainable approaches to address the well‐being of healthcare personnel

The article presents the discussion on ongoing COVID-19 pandemic exacerbating work-related stressors and elucidated pre-existing unsafe working conditions. Topics include meeting patient care needs is one of the strongest predictors of burnout among nurses and physicians;and implementing individuallevel mindfulness and compassion-based interventions to address burnout and improve resiliency in healthcare settings.

Experiences, Perceptions of Risk, and Lasting Impacts of COVID-19 for Employees in the Public Transport Sector

Background Age-standardized mortality rates for taxi drivers, chauffeurs, bus and coach drivers show that public transport workers were at high risk at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. Nevertheless, the public transport sector was required to continue services throughout the pandemic. Objectives This paper aims to develop a better understanding of the experiences of organizational leaders and workers within the UK public transport sector (bus, rail, and tram). Specifically, it aims to explore the perceived balance of risk and mitigation of SARS-CoV-2 transmission, report on their perceptions of safety in public transport during the pandemic and in the future, and consider how these perceptions and changes impact on long-term worker health and wellbeing. Methods This study formed part of a larger stakeholder engagement with the public transport sector. Organizational leaders and workers were recruited (n = 18) and semi-structured interviews carried out between January and May 2021. Data were analysed thematically. Results Overarching and subthemes were identified. Themes relating to perceptions and impacts of risk of COVID-19 for employees included: acceptability of risk for workers, perceptions of risk mitigation effectiveness, changes to working practices and their impact on morale and wellbeing, issues with compliance to mitigations such as social distancing and face coverings in passenger and co-worker groups alongside a lack of power to challenge behaviour effectively, and the roles of leadership and messaging. Themes related to long-lasting impacts of COVID-19 on working practices and effects on health and wellbeing included: continuing mitigations, impact of increasing passenger numbers, impact of vaccination programme, and impact of changes to business structure. Conclusions Most public transport employees reported feeling safe, related to the extent to which their role was public-facing. However, data were collected during a time of very low passenger numbers. Current mitigation measures were thought effective in reducing the risk of viral transmission, although measures may have a detrimental effect on worker morale and wellbeing. Issues relating to non-compliance with guidance and 'in-group' behaviour were identified. Impacts on wider business sustainability and individual wellbeing of staff should be considered when developing responses to any future pandemics. Recommendations are made for prioritizing employee engagement with colleagues, and the importance of strong leadership and clear messaging in promoting adherence to behavioural mitigations.

Stopping the Spread: How Blame Attributions Drive Customer-to-Customer Misbehavior Contagion and What Frontline Employees Can Do to Curb It

Service encounters nowadays are increasingly characterized by customer-to-customer (C2C) interactions where customers regularly become targets of other customers' misbehavior. Although previous research provides initial evidence of the contagiousness of such C2C misbehavior, it remains unclear whether, how, and why C2C misbehavior spreads when frontline employees (FLEs) are involved and what FLEs can do to curb it. Two online and one field experiment in the context of co-working and transportation services reveal that FLE-directed blame attributions drive the spread of C2C misbehavior while perpetrator-directed blame attributions reverse it. These blame attributions are greater the more severely customers judge other customers' misbehavior. Findings further rule out alternative contagion mechanisms (social norms and emotional contagion) and show that contagion spills over to C2C misbehavior unrelated to the initial transgression. By specifying how contagion unfolds and by explicating the central role blame attributions play in C2C misbehavior contagion, this research uncovers its social dynamics, thus extending existing theory on customer misbehavior and attribution theory in multi-actor settings. Managerially, this research provides FLEs with explicit guidance on what they should do (personalized FLE interventions delivered either in person or remotely) and avoid doing (disapproving looks, FLE service recovery) when faced with C2C misbehavior. © The Author(s) 2023.

Mask-Wearing and Handwashing Behaviors of Chinese Rural Residents during the Pandemic of COVID-19: A Cross-Sectional Survey

Objective: To understand mask-wearing and handwashing behaviors of Chinese rural residents during the COVID-19 pandemic and to analyze the associated factors. Methods: This study used a multi-stage random sampling method to conduct a cross-sectional questionnaire survey during the period of July to December of 2021, in six counties located in Shandong, Shanxi, and Yunnan provinces representing the eastern, central, and western regions of China, respectively. A total of 3864 villagers were surveyed with a questionnaire, and 3832 valid questionnaires were finally analyzed. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression analysis were used for statistical analysis. Results: Around ninety-four percent (93.6%) of rural residents reported mask-wearing during the COVID-19 pandemic, but only 44.5% of them could replace masks in time. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that those who were female, aged 15–59, had an education level of high school and above, were divorced/widowed, worked as farmers (workers), or were rural residents in Shandong Province were more likely to wear masks. Furthermore, those who were female, aged 15–59, had an education level of high school and above, were unmarried and married, were business and service workers, or were rural residents in Shandong and Shanxi Province replaced masks more timely. Around seventy percent (69.7%) of rural residents reported using soap when washing their hands, but only 38.0% of rural residents could wash their hands properly. Multivariate logistic regression analysis showed that rural residents who were aged 35–59, had an education of high school and above, or lived in Shandong Province and Shanxi Province were more likely to wash their hands with soap. Those who were aged 15–59, had an education of high school and above, worked as farmers (workers), were employees of governmental departments and retirees, were business and service workers, or were students had higher proper handwashing rates. Conclusions: During the COVID-19 pandemic, the proportion of Chinese rural residents wearing masks reached 93.6%, but only 44.5% were able to replace masks in time, gender, age, education level, marital status, occupation, and living place had an impact on mask-wearing. The proportion of Chinese rural residents who could wash hands with soap reached 69.7%, but only 38.0% could wash their hands properly. Age and education level were influencing factors for both washing-hand with soap and proper handwashing. © 2022 by the authors.

Can NeuroIS improve executive employee recruitment? Classifying levels of executive functions using resting state EEG and data science methods

Based on the assumption that the success of an organization is largely determined by the knowledge and skills of its employees, human resource (HR) departments invest considerable resources in the employee recruitment process with the aim of selecting the best, most suitable employees. Due to the high cost of the recruitment process along with its high rate of uncertainty, HR recruiters utilize a variety of methods and instruments to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of this process. Thus far, however, neurological methods, in which neurobiological signals from an examined person are analyzed, have not been utilized for this purpose. This study is the first to propose a neuro-based decision support system to classify cognitive functions into levels, whose target is to enrich the information and indications regarding the candidate along the employee recruitment processes. We first measured relevant functional and cognitive abilities of 142 adult participants using traditional computer-based assessment, which included a battery of four tests regarding executive functions and intelligence score, consistent with actual recruitment processes. Second, using electroencephalogram (EEG) technology, which is one of the dominant measurement tools in NeuroIS research, we collected the participants' brain signals by administering a resting state EEG (rsEEG) on each participant. Finally, using advanced machine and deep learning algorithms, we leveraged the collected rsEEG to classify participants' levels of executive functions and intelligence score. Our empirical analyses show encouraging results of up to 72.6% accuracy for the executive functions and up to 71.2% accuracy for the intelligence score. Therefore, this study lays the groundwork for a novel, generic (non-stimuli based) system that supports the current employee recruitment processes, that is based on psychological theories of assessing executive functions. The proposed decision support system could contribute to the development of additional medium of assessing employees remotely which is especially relevant in the current Covid-19 pandemic. While our method aims at classification rather than at explanation, our intriguing findings have the potential to push forward NeuroIS research and practice. © 2023 Elsevier B.V.