Leading in times of crisis: How perceived COVID-19-related work intensification links to daily e-mail demands and leader outcomes
Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
Standard
Leading in times of crisis : How perceived COVID-19-related work intensification links to daily e-mail demands and leader outcomes. / Venz, Laura; Boettcher, Katrin.
in: Applied Psychology, 11.2021.Publikation: Beiträge in Zeitschriften › Zeitschriftenaufsätze › Forschung › begutachtet
Harvard
APA
Vancouver
Bibtex
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
T1 - Leading in times of crisis
T2 - How perceived COVID-19-related work intensification links to daily e-mail demands and leader outcomes
AU - Venz, Laura
AU - Boettcher, Katrin
PY - 2021/11
Y1 - 2021/11
N2 - The COVID-19 crisis brought numerous challenges to work life. One of the most notable may be the acceleration of digital transformation, accompanied by an intensification of e-mail usage and related demands such as high e-mail workload. While research quickly started to examine the implications of these changes for employees, another important group of stakeholders has been overlooked: leaders. We focus on leaders during the COVID-19 crisis and examine how COVID-19-related work intensification links to leaders' e-mail overload appraisal and finally exhaustion and transformational leadership, a leader behaviour especially needed in times of crisis. In a 5-day diary study in September 2020, 84 leaders responded to daily surveys on 343 days. Results of multilevel analysis showed that perceived COVID-19-related work intensification was positively linked to worktime spent dealing with e-mail and appraised e-mail overload. E-mail overload appraisal was positively related to leaders' exhaustion, but unrelated to their transformational behaviour. Day-specific time spent dealing with e-mail, however, was negatively related to transformational leadership. E-mail overload appraisal mediated the relationship between COVID-19-related work intensification and exhaustion. Turning the focus on leaders during the COVID-19 crisis, our study has important implications for the design of work of leaders in times of crisis and beyond.
AB - The COVID-19 crisis brought numerous challenges to work life. One of the most notable may be the acceleration of digital transformation, accompanied by an intensification of e-mail usage and related demands such as high e-mail workload. While research quickly started to examine the implications of these changes for employees, another important group of stakeholders has been overlooked: leaders. We focus on leaders during the COVID-19 crisis and examine how COVID-19-related work intensification links to leaders' e-mail overload appraisal and finally exhaustion and transformational leadership, a leader behaviour especially needed in times of crisis. In a 5-day diary study in September 2020, 84 leaders responded to daily surveys on 343 days. Results of multilevel analysis showed that perceived COVID-19-related work intensification was positively linked to worktime spent dealing with e-mail and appraised e-mail overload. E-mail overload appraisal was positively related to leaders' exhaustion, but unrelated to their transformational behaviour. Day-specific time spent dealing with e-mail, however, was negatively related to transformational leadership. E-mail overload appraisal mediated the relationship between COVID-19-related work intensification and exhaustion. Turning the focus on leaders during the COVID-19 crisis, our study has important implications for the design of work of leaders in times of crisis and beyond.
KW - COVID-19-related acceleration
KW - diary study
KW - e-mail overload appraisal
KW - exhaustion
KW - transformational leadership
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85120401404&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1111/apps.12357
DO - 10.1111/apps.12357
M3 - Journal articles
C2 - 34898805
JO - Applied Psychology
JF - Applied Psychology
SN - 0269-994X
ER -