The Relationship between COVID-19 Appraisal and Performance: Looking at the Glass Half Full or Empty?

According to the challenge-hindrance model of stress (CHM), employees’ appraisal of potential stressors may split into two distinct dimensions that either interfere with or enhance employees’ functioning. This work expands the CHM framework by investigating whether employees’ appraisal of the challenge-hindrance of COVID-19 predicts job insecurity and performance. It explores the relationship between the appraisal of the challenge-hindrance of COVID-19 and employees’ job performance while incorporating the mediating role of job insecurity and the moderating role of COVID-19 Fear. Data were collected from 257 employee-supervisor dyads. As hypothesized, perceived job insecurity mediated the associations between COVID-19 hindrance and challenge appraisals and job performance. Fear of COVID-19 further moderated the association between hindrance appraisal and job performance and enhanced the indirect relationships between hindrance, job insecurity, and job performance. Unlike most studies that focus only on the adverse outcomes of COVID-19 stressors, this study examines the potential positive effects of challenge appraisals of the COVID-19 crisis.