Job embeddedness and life satisfaction during pandemic: the impacts of work-from-home stressors and emotional exhaustion

PurposeThis study applies the job demands-resources model the conservation of resources theory to explain and examine the impacts of home-work conflict, perceived insufficient organizational support, and perceived social isolation, that is, work-from-home stressors, oDesign/methodology/approachData were collected from 418 Thai employees who worked from home during the nationwide lockdowns at two time points. The hypotheses were tested and analyzed by means of a confirmatory factor analysis, structural equation modeling, and a bootstrapping procedure.FindingsThe results indicate that the three work-from-home stressors significantly cause emotional exhaustion and that these stressors are negatively associated with job embeddedness and life satisfaction via the mediation of emotional exhaustion.Research limitations/implicationsTo reduce error in parameter estimation due to self-report data, future research could use a more rigorous longitudinal design with a longer time lag and collect data from multiple sources.Practical implicationsRealizing how critical situations shape the workplace would help organizations understand the issues concerning a remote work approach and create more applicable interventions to improve employees' retention and wellbeing.Originality/valueThis study reinforces the application of COR in times of crisis and extends the traditional JD-R model beyond the normal work context.