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Workplace isolation during COVID-19 and work–family conflict among academicians: interplay of psychological stress and organizational identification

Shameem Shagirbasha (Great Lakes Institute of Management, Chennai, India)
Juman Iqbal (University of Kashmir, Srinagar, India)
Kumar Madhan (NSB Academy, Bangalore, India)
Swati Chaudhary (Gurukul Kangri (Deemed to be University), Haridwar, India)
Rosy Dhall (MDU, Rohtak, India)

International Journal of Manpower

ISSN: 0143-7720

Article publication date: 8 February 2023

Issue publication date: 27 March 2024

447

Abstract

Purpose

COVID-19 pandemic has overturned the work and family life challenging the world in unpredictable ways that were previously unimaginable. With universities shutting down and emergence of online classes, this phenomenon is prevalent among academicians as well. With this background, the current study aims to investigate the direct relationships between workplace isolation (WPI) during COVID-19 and work–family conflict (WFC) with psychological stress (PS) mediating and organizational identification (OI) moderating the relationship between the two.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors employed time lagged survey and collected data at three different time intervals (T1, T2, T3) from 203 academicians working across various universities and colleges in India. The data were analyzed quantitatively using SPSS PROCESS Macro and AMOS.

Findings

The results indicated that WPI during COVID-19 has a significant positive relationship with PS and WFC . It was also found that PS partially mediated the relationship between WPI during COVID-19 and WFC. Further, OI emerged as a potential moderator.

Originality/value

Based on the current empirical studies, it remains unclear if WPI during COVID-19 is associated with WFC. Therefore, drawing upon stress–strain–outcome (SSO) model and the conservation of resource theory, this study makes a significant contribution to the existing body of literature by exploring the unexplored associations. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, such an association has not received much scholarly attention before.

Keywords

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to acknowledge the contribution of Mr. Jubin Kumar Saini in the earlier version of this manuscript, who is no longer with us.

Author Contributions: All authors equally contributed to the study.

Citation

Shagirbasha, S., Iqbal, J., Madhan, K., Chaudhary, S. and Dhall, R. (2024), "Workplace isolation during COVID-19 and work–family conflict among academicians: interplay of psychological stress and organizational identification", International Journal of Manpower, Vol. 45 No. 1, pp. 133-154. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJM-04-2022-0190

Publisher

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Emerald Publishing Limited

Copyright © 2023, Emerald Publishing Limited

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