Organizational commitment

2019-20 coronavirus outbreak

Neuroscience

Emotional contagion

Social psychology

Conservation of resources theory

Virology

Social support

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2)

Outbreak

Perceived organizational support

Emotional support

Business

Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19)

Burnout

Well-being

Psychology

Emotional exhaustion

Psychotherapist

Infectious disease (medical specialty)

Medicine

Clinical psychology

Pandemic

Perception

Disease

Pathology

Current Psychology

The COVID-19 crisis has drastically affected organizations worldwide, thereby influencing the employees' psychological wellbeing. Since it is a new pandemic, research is sparse in the domain of employees' psychological wellbeing in relation to the phenomenon. Drawing on social support and job demand-resource perspectives, this research adds to the factors affecting employees' wellbeing due to the coronavirus outbreak. Specifically, this study is an investigation of co-workers' instrumental support in predicting employees' emotional exhaustion via employees' perceived uncertainties experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Further, we tested for the contextual specificity of family support on uncertainties and its link with employees' emotional exhaustion. With data drawn from two universities (n = 275), the findings reveal a negative association between co-worker task support and an employee's emotional exhaustion, and an employee's perceived uncertainties mediate this relationship. Moreover, the moderating analysis exhibits that family support mitigates the negative effect of uncertainty perception on emotional exhaustion. Our study reveals that coworker and family support are extremely important during the COVID-19 pandemic. These findings are equally valuable for organizations and society to mitigate the detrimental effects of the COVID-19 pandemic on employees' wellbeing.

Social support and perceived uncertainties during COVID-19: Consequences for employees’ wellbeing