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The shift to remote work brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic dramatically limited spontaneous workplace interpersonal interactions. For one interpersonal relationship in particular, the work spouse, the sudden physical distance may impact the energy work spouses draw from one another. Drawing on interactional ritual theory, this study aims to investigate the relationship between interaction frequency and organizational outcomes mediated by relational energy amid the pandemic.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, working adults who indicated they had a work spouse were recruited via Qualtrics to participate in a two-part online study.

Complete data from 120 participants across both time periods revealed that more frequent interaction between work spouses is associated with increased job satisfaction and affective commitment mediated by relational energy.

This study represents the first empirical examination of individual and organizational outcomes of a unique interpersonal workplace relationship. Additionally, this study enhances our understanding of the impact of relational energy in socially distanced situations between employees in a close, intimate (non-sexual) pair bond.

The purpose of this paper is to extend the meaning maintenance model (MMM) by elucidating the meaning employees provide to both work and family during a furlough.

The sample consisted of 180 state government employees, who completed four surveys, starting at a time before a furlough was initiated through returning to work following a furlough. The authors used random coefficient modeling of a mixed-effects model for discontinuous change.

Findings suggest that a furlough is associated with increases in perceived psychological contract breach, an indication that the meaning of work is being threatened. Following the furlough, employees’ family identity salience significantly increased. Further, rumination about the furlough increased the shift in family identity salience.

This research tests the MMM in the context of furloughs and work-family implications. The results suggest that employees experience fluid compensation, a key facet of the MMM, during a furlough. Further, rumination of the experienced furlough can strengthen the fluid compensation process.

The implications for organizations implementing furloughs and various methods for implementing furloughs are discussed.

This research extends the MMM by empirically examining it in the context of furloughs and work-family implications. Further, it extends the MMM by examining the impact of rumination on the fluid compensation process.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the moderated-mediational relationship between the impostor phenomenon (IP) and work-to-family conflict (WFC). Building on conservation of resources (COR) theory, the authors hypothesize that individuals who experience the IP lack the initial resources needed to meet work demands and, thus, experience emotional exhaustion, which leads to WFC. However, the authors hypothesize that additional resources provided by organizations, such as perceived organizational support (POS), may weaken the negative experiences of imposters.

The authors tested a moderated-mediation model using data from a time-lagged survey study among 92 Midwest community college employees. Regression was used to examine the mediating effects of emotional exhaustion and the moderating effect of POS on the IP to WFC relationship.

Results support the hypothesized model. Emotional exhaustion is a mediating mechanism in the relationship between the IP and WFC. POS is a moderator of this indirect relationship; the indirect relationship between the IP and WFC through emotional exhaustion is weaker when employees perceive high levels of POS.

The findings suggest that there are detrimental long-term effects associated with the IP for organizations. Thus, managers should curb feelings of impostorism within their organizations and provide impostors with organizational support in order to reduce their emotional exhaustion and WFC.

The present study indicates that individual dispositions play an indirect role in WFC. Furthermore, the authors identify organizational outcomes associated with the IP, whereas previous research has rarely emphasized outcomes.

This paper aims to examine the level of smoke‐free policies in general hospitals and the barriers faced in implementing restrictive policies banning smoking inside buildings and on surrounding grounds.

A survey was developed to gather data on hospitals' current smoke‐free policies, including the challenges faced when implementing such a policy or the barriers to implementing one. The surveys were directed to the chief executive officers (CEOs) of Alabama general hospitals. Responses from 47 hospital CEOs, representing 46.5 percent of the total population were obtained.

Over one‐quarter of respondents were found to have restrictive smoke‐free policies. Of this group, over one‐third experienced a hostile response from employees that smoked. Nearly 85 percent indicated that they made smoking cessation resources available to their employees. Of those that did not have a restrictive smoke‐free policy, fear of employee and patient backlash was cited as the most common deterrent against implementing such a policy.

Studies show that restrictive smoke‐free workplace policies have altered employees' smoking prevalence and consumption. Given the recent reports on the dangers of secondhand smoke, hospitals should reduce the risk of exposure to secondhand smoke for employees, patients, and visitors. Furthermore, restrictive smoke‐free policies may help to increase hospitals' bottom line.

A study examining restrictive smoke‐free policies in general hospitals and challenges faced in implementing such policies is absent from the literature. Identifying the barriers faced may help health care facilities to avoid or overcome these barriers when implementing such policies. The paper addresses the issues involved.

The recent economic recession has led many organizations to downsize, or eliminate positions, in an effort to cut labor costs and improve profitability. Survivors may suddenly find themselves over-rewarded, or prematurely promoted, into one or more vacant positions. One negative consequence of over-reward in particular, impostor phenomenon, may present significant challenges at both the individual and organizational level. Thus, the purpose of this chapter is to examine the consequences and coping strategies of survivors who perceive themselves as over-rewarded and under-qualified for a job. Hobfoll's Conservation of Resources Theory (COR) serves as this study's framework to explicate the outcomes associated with impostor feelings and how impostors cope with their perceived inadequacy. Specifically, we propose that impostor feelings will be positively related to emotional exhaustion. To deal with the exhaustion, impostors may rely on coping strategies in order to master the additional internal and external demands created by feelings of impostorism. The type of strategy used by impostors to cope with the exhaustion is influenced by the level of perceived social support. That is, impostors who perceive higher levels of support will resort to active coping while those who perceive lower levels of support will resort to avoidant coping. Managerial implications and directions for future research are offered.

The purpose of this study is to review the barriers associated with implementing a campus‐wide smoke‐free policy as perceived by the American Cancer Society's Colleges against Cancer (CAC) Program chapter representatives.

Four focus group sessions were conducted at the annual CAC National Leadership Summit in October 2006. A total of 109 participants, or 41.4 percent of the total population of CAC member institutions, attended the focus groups.

All participants identified encountering barriers at some stage of the implementation process. Three major themes emerged when participants were asked to identify what they perceived to be the most significant barriers to successfully implementing a campus‐wide smoke‐free policy: lack of administrative and staff support, student involvement, and resources.

With the rising rate of smoking among college students and the release of the 2006 Surgeon General's report citing the harmful effects of secondhand smoke, the need for colleges and universities to take measures not only to curtail the number of smokers, but to limit the exposure to secondhand smoke is intensifying.

A study examining the challenges faced by colleges and universities when trying to implement a campus‐wide smoke‐free policy is absent from the literature. The paper helps in identifying the most significant barriers that may encourage efforts among colleges and universities to lessen or eliminate these barriers.

The purpose of this paper is to explore what individuals perceive as social identity threats, the sources of the threat, individuals’ responses, and the consequences of the threat.

Narratives from 224 individuals were collected. A sample of 84 narratives were analyzed in depth using a qualitative content analysis approach.

Initial support for identity threat response theory was found. Three new distinct threat responses – constructive action, ignore, and seek assistance – were uncovered. Additionally, harm/loss appraisals were found to be perceived and reacted to similarly to Petriglieri-defined identity threats.

This study contributes to identity scholarship by shedding further light on the “theoretical black box” associated with identity threat. Such insight is necessary in further enhancing our understanding of the impact that identity threat has at the individual and organizational level.

In our 10th volume of Research in Occupational Stress and Well Being, we offer eight chapters that examine the role of the economic crisis in occupational stress and well being research. The first three chapters are considered more general overviews, and each examines a different aspect of economic stress and well being. Our lead chapter, by Songqi Liu and Mo Wang, provides an in-depth review of perceived overqualification. They develop and present a multilevel model of perceived overqualification that explicitly addresses antecedents, consequences, as well as the intermediating linkages within the relationships. The second chapter by Mindy K. Shoss and Tahira M. Probst also takes a multilevel approach by examining outcomes of economic stress. Specifically, they discuss how employee experiences with economic stress give impetus to emergent outcomes and employee well being. In our third overview chapter, Aimee E. A. King and Paul E. Levy develop a theoretical framework for organizational politics in an economic downturn. Specifically, they propose an integrative model that examines the role of the economic downturn, politics, and well being.

Maximilian Buyken is a PhD candidate at the Department of Work and Organizational Psychology at Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany. He received his diploma (German equivalent of a Master's degree) from Philipps-Universität Marburg, Germany. His particular research interests are career adaptability – especially in the face of economic stressors – occupational health psychology and the connection between the two research areas, for example, the function of career adaptive behaviors as coping mechanisms with regard to psychological strain.