A diary study of psychological effects of misinformation and COVID-19 Threat on work engagement of working from home employees

Abstract

Since the COVID -19 pandemic, the open literature presents plenty of discussions on how individuals have adopted being forced to work from home (WFH). Nevertheless, there hasn't been much information on how individuals perceive WFM is affecting their daily work routine in the pandemic. By applying the stressors-strain-outcome (SSO) framework, the current study develops and tests a model that explains how misinformation and COVID-19 threat triggered the anxiety and social media fatigue of WFH employees and affected their work-related response. This study collected diary data for ten consecutive days from 56 WFH employees. Results widely supported the hypothesized model. Specifically, findings revealed that misinformation and COVID-19 threat increase anxiety and social media fatigue among these employees, resulting in a lower level of work engagement. This study also found that resilience as a coping mechanism reduces the adverse effects of anxiety on work engagement. The results have significant, timely implications for policy and research.

Keywords: Anxiety; Perceived COVID-19 threat; Resilience; SSO Model; Social media fatigue; Social media misinformation; Work engagement; Work from home.