IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v12y2020i23p9804-d450196.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Social Isolation and Stress as Predictors of Productivity Perception and Remote Work Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Concern about the Virus in a Moderated Double Mediation

Author

Listed:
  • Ferdinando Toscano

    (Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy)

  • Salvatore Zappalà

    (Department of Psychology, University of Bologna, 40126 Bologna, Italy
    Department of Psychology and Human Capital Development, Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation, 125993 Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

From mid-March to the end of May 2020, millions of Italians were forced to work from home because of the lockdown provisions imposed by the Italian government to contain the COVID-19 epidemic. As a result, many employees had to suddenly switch to remote work, experiencing both troubles and opportunities. Social isolation from colleagues and the workplace represents a typical aspect of remote work which increased significantly during the social confinement imposed by the government. This study investigates the correlates of social isolation in terms of stress, perceived remote work productivity and remote work satisfaction, proposing the sequential mediation of stress and perceived remote work productivity, and the moderating role of concern about the new coronavirus. An online survey was conducted, and the responses of 265 employees showed the deleterious role of social isolation in stress, which leads to decreased perceived remote work productivity that, in turn, is related to remote work satisfaction. Furthermore, the results suggest that concern about the virus moderates the relationships between social isolation and remote work satisfaction, from one side, and remote work perceived productivity and remote work satisfaction from the other. This latter result suggests that the indirect sequential effect of social isolation on remote work satisfaction is conditional on concern about the virus. Some conclusions are drawn to support managers and HR officers in the choices to better manage employees’ work during the health emergency.

Suggested Citation

  • Ferdinando Toscano & Salvatore Zappalà, 2020. "Social Isolation and Stress as Predictors of Productivity Perception and Remote Work Satisfaction during the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Role of Concern about the Virus in a Moderated Double Mediation," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-14, November.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:9804-:d:450196
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/9804/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/12/23/9804/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Agota Giedrė Raišienė & Violeta Rapuano & Kristina Varkulevičiūtė & Katarína Stachová, 2020. "Working from Home—Who Is Happy? A Survey of Lithuania’s Employees during the COVID-19 Quarantine Period," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(13), pages 1-23, July.
    2. Eline Moens & Louis Lippens & Philippe Sterkens & Johannes Weytjens & Stijn Baert, 2022. "The COVID-19 crisis and telework: a research survey on experiences, expectations and hopes," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 23(4), pages 729-753, June.
    3. Hessels, Jolanda & Rietveld, Cornelius A. & van der Zwan, Peter, 2017. "Self-employment and work-related stress: The mediating role of job control and job demand," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 178-196.
    4. George Halkos & Dimitrios Bousinakis, 2010. "The effect of stress and satisfaction on productivity," International Journal of Productivity and Performance Management, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 59(5), pages 415-431, June.
    5. Monica Molino & Emanuela Ingusci & Fulvio Signore & Amelia Manuti & Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Vincenzo Russo & Margherita Zito & Claudio G. Cortese, 2020. "Wellbeing Costs of Technology Use during Covid-19 Remote Working: An Investigation Using the Italian Translation of the Technostress Creators Scale," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(15), pages 1-20, July.
    6. Bonacini, Luca & Gallo, Giovanni & Scicchitano, Sergio, 2020. "All that glitters is not gold. Effects of working from home on income inequality at the time of COVID-19," GLO Discussion Paper Series 541, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Monica Aureliana Petcu & Maria Iulia Sobolevschi-David & Adrian Anica-Popa & Stefania Cristina Curea & Catalina Motofei & Ana-Maria Popescu, 2021. "Multidimensional Assessment of Job Satisfaction in Telework Conditions. Case Study: Romania in the COVID-19 Pandemic," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(16), pages 1-16, August.
    2. Milenko Radonic & Valentina Vukmirovic & Milos Milosavljevic, 2021. "The Impact of Hybrid Workplace Models on Intangible Assets: The Case of an Emerging Country," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 23(58), pages 770-770, August.
    3. Georgiana-Camelia Georgescu (Cretan) & Rodica Gherghina & Ioana Duca & Mirela Anca Postole & Carmen Maria Constantinescu, 2021. "Determinants of Employees’ Option for Preserving Teleworking After the COVID-19 Pandemic," The AMFITEATRU ECONOMIC journal, Academy of Economic Studies - Bucharest, Romania, vol. 23(58), pages 669-669, August.
    4. Al-Baraa Abdulrahman Al-Mekhlafi & Ahmad Shahrul Nizam Isha & Nicholas Chileshe & Mohammed Abdulrab & Anwar Ameen Hezam Saeed & Ahmed Farouk Kineber, 2021. "Modelling the Relationship between the Nature of Work Factors and Driving Performance Mediating by Role of Fatigue," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(13), pages 1-17, June.
    5. Barbora Mazúrová & Ján Kollár & Gabriela Nedelová, 2021. "Travel Mode of Commuting in Context of Subjective Well-Being—Experience from Slovakia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Israel Escudero-Castillo & Fco. Javier Mato-Díaz & Ana Rodriguez-Alvarez, 2021. "Furloughs, Teleworking and Other Work Situations during the COVID-19 Lockdown: Impact on Mental Well-Being," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(6), pages 1-16, March.
    7. Ed Burton & David John Edwards & Chris Roberts & Nicholas Chileshe & Joseph H. K. Lai, 2021. "Delineating the Implications of Dispersing Teams and Teleworking in an Agile UK Construction Sector," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(17), pages 1-21, September.
    8. Marcus T. Wolfe & Pankaj C. Patel, 0. "I will sleep when I am dead? Sleep and self-employment," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 0, pages 1-17.
    9. Stephan Getzmann & Jan Digutsch & Thomas Kleinsorge, 2021. "COVID-19 Pandemic and Personality: Agreeable People Are More Stressed by the Feeling of Missing," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(20), pages 1-16, October.
    10. Kristian S. Nielsen & Kimberly A. Nicholas & Felix Creutzig & Thomas Dietz & Paul C. Stern, 2021. "The role of high-socioeconomic-status people in locking in or rapidly reducing energy-driven greenhouse gas emissions," Nature Energy, Nature, vol. 6(11), pages 1011-1016, November.
    11. Xiaoyu Yu & Xiaotong Meng & Laura Stanley & Franz W. Kellermanns, 2024. "Self-employment and life satisfaction: The contingent role of formal institutions," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 63(1), pages 135-163, June.
    12. Abel Brodeur & David Gray & Anik Islam & Suraiya Bhuiyan, 2021. "A literature review of the economics of COVID‐19," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 35(4), pages 1007-1044, September.
    13. Shu Da & Silje Fossum Fladmark & Irina Wara & Marit Christensen & Siw Tone Innstrand, 2022. "To Change or Not to Change: A Study of Workplace Change during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(4), pages 1-15, February.
    14. Awaworyi Churchill, Sefa & Hayward, Mathew & Smyth, Russell & Trinh, Trong-Anh, 2023. "Crime, community social capital and entrepreneurship: Evidence from Australian communities," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 38(2).
    15. Leonel Prieto & Md Farid Talukder, 2023. "Resilient Agility: A Necessary Condition for Employee and Organizational Sustainability," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-24, January.
    16. Tachia Chin & Yi Shi & Manlio Giudice & Jianwei Meng & Zeyu Xing, 2023. "Working from anywhere: yin–yang cognition paradoxes of knowledge sharing and hiding for developing careers in China," Palgrave Communications, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 10(1), pages 1-10, December.
    17. Aini Farmania & Riska Dwinda Elsyah & Ananda Fortunisa, 2022. "The Phenomenon of Technostress during the COVID-19 Pandemic Due to Work from Home in Indonesia," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(14), pages 1-21, July.
    18. Alessandra Falco & Damiano Girardi & Achim Elfering & Tanja Peric & Isabella Pividori & Laura Dal Corso, 2023. "Is Smart Working Beneficial for Workers’ Wellbeing? A Longitudinal Investigation of Smart Working, Workload, and Hair Cortisol/Dehydroepiandrosterone Sulfate during the COVID-19 Pandemic," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-23, June.
    19. Amelia Manuti & Maria Luisa Giancaspro & Monica Molino & Emanuela Ingusci & Vincenzo Russo & Fulvio Signore & Margherita Zito & Claudio Giovanni Cortese, 2020. "“Everything Will Be Fine”: A Study on the Relationship between Employees’ Perception of Sustainable HRM Practices and Positive Organizational Behavior during COVID19," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(23), pages 1-17, December.
    20. Vicki L. Bogan & Angela R. Fertig & David R. Just, 2022. "Self-employment and mental health," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 855-886, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:12:y:2020:i:23:p:9804-:d:450196. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.