Date of Award

Spring 5-2022

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science (MS)

Department

Psychology

Committee Director

Konstantin P. Cigularov

Committee Member

Ian M. Katz

Committee Member

Abby L. Braitman

Abstract

The current study examines the effects of negative appraisals of COVID-19 on thriving and burnout, and whether embeddedness moderates these effects. Specifically, I examined whether negative appraisals of COVID-19 at work and school are related to less thriving and more burnout in the respective domains, and whether the predicted effects of negative appraisals of COVID-19 on thriving and burnout were stronger among those who reported more embeddedness in their job or major compared to those who are less embedded. Additionally, I investigate potential spillover effects of negative COVID-19 appraisals in one domain into the thriving and burnout in the other domain. Survey data from employed college students were used to test the hypotheses. I expected negative appraisals of COVID-19 to negatively impact one’s ability to thrive in both the work and school domains, and to be related to higher rates of burnout in both domains. It was also expected that employed students who are well embedded in their job or major would be protected against these effects, such that they would experience more thriving and less burnout in spite of their negative appraisals of COVID-19. I also expected to see spillover effects of negative appraisals of COVID-19 from one domain onto the outcomes in the other domain. Results showed support for the matching- and cross-domain hypotheses; negative appraisals of COVID-19 at work and school showed negative relationships with thriving and positive relationships with burnout in both domains. However, the moderating effects of major embeddedness were not significant, and the moderating effect of job embeddedness was positive rather than negative, as hypothesized. This suggests that the association between negative appraisals of COVID-19 and thriving at work was strengthened by job embeddedness. University administrators and organizational leaders should focus on reducing demands and increasing resources for students or employees, especially while the pandemic continues, to promote thriving and prevent burnout. Further, additional attention should be paid to highly embedded employees, as they may require even more resources during times of high demand.

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In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).

DOI

10.25777/f67c-4g22

ISBN

9798834002857

ORCID

0000-0003-0710-6679

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