How do workplace stressors during COVID-19 affect health frontline employees in Iran: Investigating the role of employee resilience and constituent attachment

Abstract

PurposeThe purpose of the present study is to extend the body of research on healthcare management by examining the effect of workplace stressors, including abusive supervision, customer incivility and the perceived threat of COVID-19 (PCT), on turnover intention. The study also contributes to healthcare management research by examining the mediating role of emotional exhaustion, the moderating role of employee resilience and constituent attachment.Design/methodology/approachThe study developed and tested a model explaining the relationship between abusive supervision, customer incivility, PCT, emotional exhaustion, turnover intention, employee resilience and constituent attachment. Data were collected from a sample of 375 frontline employees who work in private hospitals in Mashhad, the second-most populous city in Iran.FindingsThe findings indicate that abusive supervision and customer incivility, directly and indirectly, affect turnover intention through emotional exhaustion. Furthermore, employee resilience was found to mitigate the relationship between stressors excluding the PCT and emotional exhaustion. Moreover, constituent attachment decreased the likelihood of turnover intention among employees who experienced abusive supervision. The findings suggest that controlling abusive supervision, customer incivility and PCT can lead to less emotionally exhausted employees with lower turnover intention. Furthermore, enhancing employee resilience and constituent attachment can decrease emotional exhaustion and turnover intention.Originality/valueDespite the large body of research on the relationship between the variables mentioned above, few studies have presented a conceptual model based on the relationship between them. This article presents a conceptual model that has not been previously discussed in any other publication to examine the moderating effect of organizational and individual factors in the relationship between workplace stressors and their consequences, which have not been widely covered in existing literature. Drawing upon conservation of resources theory, job embeddedness theory and attachment theory, the present study aims to fill this gap in the literature.