WBRC research is collected in the WHO COVID-19 Research Database
Three WBRC research publications by Professor Chia-Huei Wu and his colleagues are collected in the WHO COVID-19 Research Database.
Three WBRC research publications by Professor Chia-Huei Wu and his colleagues are collected in the WHO COVID-19 Research Database. These research outputs offer insights into how COVID-19 has affected employees' work behavior, managers' well-being, and organisational responses in implementing COVID-19 safety measures for employees.
The first publication focuses on how managers can boost overqualified workers' motivation and extra-role contributions during the COVID-19 crisis when having "all hands-on deck" are important to an organization's survival. The study reports findings from 121 employees in the UK and 382 employees in the US. The findings reveal that supervisors' self-sacrificial leadership (i.e., putting the collective first), especially when COVID-19 more strongly impacts the organization, can evoke a sense of collectivism toward the organization and motivate overqualified workers to make extra-role contributions during the crisis.
The second publication investigates why COVID-19 could have undermined managers' well-being due to employees' reactions to COVID-19. The study reports findings from 281 middle managers in the UK. The findings indicate that followers' unclear demands due to uncertainty during COVID-19 could generate managers' feelings of entrapment and thus, lower well-being. Importantly, the study shows that managers who have higher levels of leadership responsibility during COVID-19 are likely to feel trapped by followers' unclear demands and have lower well-being. This finding reveals the impact of the challenges of managerial roles on managers' well-being.
The third publication, using a case study in hospitality, looks into how an organization can motivate employee compliance with COVID-19 safety measures. The study explores in-depth how organizations can facilitate employees' deep compliance. Using multi-level interview data and archival data in a small-medium-sized restaurant in China, the findings reveal that employees' deep compliance with safety procedures includes a four-stage psychological process: heightened risk and health awareness, perceived utility value, behavioral adaptation, and integration. This process is underpinned by both management safety practices and organizational crisis strategies. This study offers insights on how organizations in hospitality can protect the health and safety of their employees and the broader community in the organization.
WBRC conducts research to understand, intervene and manage workplace behaviour at the individual, interpersonal, team, and organisational level.
