Stay positive: studying the change patterns in academics' job and life satisfaction during the Covid-19 pandemic through growth curve modeling

IF 1.6 Q2 Business, Management and Accounting Evidence-based HRM-A Global Forum for Empirical Scholarship Pub Date : 2022-08-31 DOI:10.1108/ebhrm-09-2021-0207
Majid Ghasemy, Lena Frömbling
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引用次数: 3

Abstract

PurposeDuring the Covid-19 outbreak, universities around the globe were closed or went online due to lockdowns implemented to curb the pandemic's spread. This study aims to examine the changes in Malaysian academics' job and life satisfaction during a testing four-month period, from the beginning of the first Covid-19 lockdown until two months after it ended. It also assesses the impact of affective states and age group on these two constructs.Design/methodology/approachIn this longitudinal study, the authors collected data from 220 academics in Malaysia at three time points in 2020, namely the beginning of the lockdown (April), the end of the lockdown (June) and two months after the lockdown (August). The authors applied multivariate latent growth curve (LGC) modeling to study changes in job satisfaction and life satisfaction. In addition, we added age group, as a time-invariant covariate, as well as positive and negative affect, as two time-varying covariates, to our LGC model. The authors estimated the LGC model using the EQS 6.4 statistical package.FindingsThe results show that both job and life satisfaction were stable over time, although their means were below the average. Positive affect was a significant predictor of both types of satisfaction, and age group was a significant predictor of job satisfaction.Practical implicationsThe main implication the authors draw from this study is connected to job and life satisfaction's mean values being below average. In line with the affective events theory (AET), the authors recommend paying particular attention to work environment features, such as providing sufficient infrastructure for employees working from home and keeping social relations intact. Especially young academics should receive sufficient support.Originality/valueThe study is one of a limited number that examined longitudinal effects during the Covid-19 pandemic in the domains of human resource management and organizational behavior. Hence, this study expands our knowledge of employees' affect and attitudes during an unprecedented global health crisis, particularly in the under-researched area of the Malaysian higher education sector.
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积极向上:通过增长曲线建模,研究新冠肺炎疫情期间学者工作和生活满意度的变化规律
目的在新冠肺炎疫情期间,由于为遏制疫情传播而实施的封锁措施,全球各地的大学都关闭或上网。这项研究旨在研究在为期四个月的测试期间,从第一次Covid-19封锁开始到结束两个月后,马来西亚学者的工作和生活满意度的变化。它还评估了情感状态和年龄组对这两个构念的影响。在这项纵向研究中,作者收集了2020年马来西亚220名学者在三个时间点的数据,即封城开始(4月)、封城结束(6月)和封城后两个月(8月)。运用多元潜在成长曲线(LGC)模型研究工作满意度和生活满意度的变化。此外,我们在LGC模型中增加了年龄组作为时不变协变量,以及积极和消极影响作为两个时变协变量。作者使用EQS 6.4统计软件包对LGC模型进行了估计。调查结果显示,工作满意度和生活满意度随着时间的推移是稳定的,尽管它们的平均值低于平均水平。积极情绪是两种满意度的显著预测因子,年龄是工作满意度的显著预测因子。实际意义作者从这项研究中得出的主要含义是与工作和生活满意度的平均值低于平均水平有关。根据情感事件理论(AET),作者建议特别注意工作环境的特征,例如为在家工作的员工提供足够的基础设施,并保持社会关系的完整。特别是青年学者应该得到足够的支持。该研究是少数几项研究之一,旨在调查Covid-19大流行期间对人力资源管理和组织行为领域的纵向影响。因此,这项研究扩大了我们对员工在前所未有的全球健康危机中的影响和态度的了解,特别是在马来西亚高等教育部门研究不足的领域。
本文章由计算机程序翻译,如有差异,请以英文原文为准。
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来源期刊
CiteScore
2.70
自引率
6.20%
发文量
39
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